The Black Flame and the Frozen Wasteland
by Dark-Shadow-Foot
Summary: A soul reaper long thought dead turns up in Karakura town the night of the attack on the Kurosaki family. Who is this new Reaper and what does he want, who are his allies and what does his return to mean for them all. A femIchi Fic
1. New Beginnings

The Black Flame and the Frozen Wasteland

Summary:

A soul reaper long thought dead turns up in Karakura town the night of the attack on the Kurosaki family. Who is this new Reaper and what does he want, who are his allies and what does his return to mean for them all. A femIchi Fic

DSF - I have changed something's in this chapter as well as the chapters after this one. Rereading my story I found that I wasn't using certain terms I had planned on using when referring to family in the story, Nii-san and the like and I found that something just didn't set right with me.

Sougetsu – "You always find something you don't like."

Souketsu – 'She you know, you have been changing things lately."

DSF – "I can't help if my muse left me. So I took that time to go back over everything. Well I hope the changes make the story better, some may not be apparent a first, but hope you enjoy none the less."

Sougetsu and Souketsu – "DSF does not own Bleach that right and honor belongs to Tite Kubo, he does however own any OC's and changes to the plot."

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Chapter 1 – New Beginnings

A man in a green striped hat, green hakama and green kimono wearing a green haori holding a cane approached a candy store, unaware of another man leaning against a far wall watching him. His long red hair flowing down to his mid back, his tall broad stature straitening in the other mans approach. The red haired man looked to be about sixteen to seventeen yours old. His face, that of a kind man, but one who knows how to carry one's self in battle. The most remarkable thing about his features was his eyes. The eyes of a warrior, compassion, determination and the will to protect held a place in them as well. The man wore Sleeveless shihakushō with a red obi. Red bandage like material could be seen through the outer edges of the shihakushō around the shoulder and through the opening of the robe at the upper part of the chest. The inner part of his robe was red as well. Two swords could be seen tucked in obi on both sides of the man's waist and two more on either side of the man's back. The man in the green hat was almost at the door to the shop when he heard the other man speak finally noticing his presence.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it Hat n' Clogs. I saw what happened to Isshin's eldest daughter. I also saw the soul reaper, she won't be able to hide what happened tonight for long, but I suppose you already know that." The man with red hair said with a deep voice.

"It certainly has been a long time Doloran, and you would be right I'm certain they will come sooner rather than later. Come inside and I'll fix us some tea, this is no place to talk about such things." The man named Hat n' Clogs replied gesturing to the now open door to the shop.

Doloran nodded his approval and followed the man in. The two men walked to the back of the shop in silence. The man in the hat showed the other man to a small sitting room showing him where he could sit; he then left the room to retrieve some tea. The room had several book cases against the walls; two small tables with lamps sat against the walls a well. A small round table sat in the center of the room low to the floor. Several pillows sat around the table for people to sit on. The man in the striped hat soon reappeared placing the tea on the table while serving it and taking a seat. The man said nothing at first appearing to be in thought. The other man sat in silence as well sipping on his tea content to let the man in the striped hat talk first.

"I suppose that your appearance here means that Soul Society doesn't know of your return and that you are aware of the trouble brewing in the Soul Society." The man in the striped hat stated rather than asking, knowing he is most likely right in his assumption.

"That would be correct Kisuke and I also know who is behind it. I have an ally among them, one he would never be suspected of feeding me information. The only thing he suspects might be his true intentions."

"That is good to hear, it will certainty help things. With your help the coming war will go a lot easier. You can stay here if you like or do you have other lodging?"

"I thought I might stay at Isshin's house, I would like to keep an eye on his daughter and help her in any way I can. Isshin most likely won't reveal his past to her or interfere with what's to come until he's needed here in the living world. The soul reaper isn't going to be able to get her ready for what's to come." Kisuke eyes widened upon hearing what he had to say, not expecting him to get involved this early.

"Very well if that's what you want to do then I make you a gigai so you can go to school along with her. You'll be running the risk of being exposed if you do this though and what will you tell the soul reaper about you appearance here?"

"Thanks Kisuke. The risk is worth it, most in Soul Society don't know me so the wont recognize me and the ones that do know me would expect me to look much older with the time that's past, besides they believe me dead. The only person who knows that I am alive in Soul Society is my ally. The Captain Commander might know I'm still alive since he knows the extent of my power, so in the unlikely event an image of me gets to Soul Society before she's taken he's the only one other than my ally who would know it's me."

"Will you be informing your ally of your return and can he let us know when they will be coming?

"He is aware of my return and I believe any further contact at this time would be too risky with what has transpired tonight. I better be going Kisuke, I just wanted to stop by and say hello and there's still things I need to take care of tonight and I want to talk to Isshin before he heads to bed. If you could get me enrolled in her school I would be very grateful." He said getting up to leave.

"I'll get it arranged for you. Doloran, the soul reaper…." Kisuke said getting up with a regretful expression on his face.

"I'm aware of what's in her, I'll take care of it so don't worry. It was good plan Kisuke, he's just better than we thought. I'll destroy it, it well never end up in his hands and Kisuke, wipe that pathetic look of your face it doesn't suit you. I'll show myself out, take care Kisuke." With that said Doloran left the candy shop heading for the Kurosaki clinic.

He could fell the soul reaper and what was in her. Destroying the thing was one of his main priorities, besides helping the reaper and Isshin's daughter. He could fell the young ladies power as well, although minuscule to his own it, it was still quite good for such young power. Some of the soul reapers power could be felt within her, however there he could feel something much deeper in her as well. The power of the reaper ran through her veins, she would just need the training and determination to awaken her own and break the hold of the borrowed power inside her held upon her.

He could see the damage done to the clinic as he approached and Isshin was nowhere to be seen. He knew the man knew of his arrival however, he never had a problem sensing him even when no one else could. The kitchen lights were on as he entered the living part of the clinic. Isshin sat at the table as he entered the Kitchen. Bowing to the man he took a seat at the table after Isshin gestured for him to do so. The man's looks hadn't changed since the last time he had seen him. He had every intention to keep the oath he took to protect him and that meant his family would now fall under his protection. It was something Kisuke wasn't aware of. Some would think that was why he felt so determined to help the man in front of him and his family, but it's was his nature to help people. Long ago he had made a pledge to help whomever he could. That's why he never told anyone other than the Captain Commander about his oath, people tend to jump to conclusions. The need and duty for him to protect and to serve Soul Society may be strong, but his biggest duty was to the man before him and his family.

"It is good to see you Doloran, alive and well I see. I never doubted that you made it the through the incident that took you from us, much as happened in your absence as you probably know doubt know. I sensed you at Kisuke's earlier; I hope your visit went well. There's no need to bow to me Doloran you may be in my service, but that formality was void when you gained my complete respect and trust." Isshin said with a serious tone and a kind smile.

"It is good to see you as well sir, my visit to Kisuke's went well and I am aware of the events that have transpired since my untimely departure as well as what happened here a few hours ago and thank you for asking. I came here tonight to see about staying here if it's not too much trouble." Doloran stated with clear respect for the man in front of him.

"You are always welcome in my home and your welcome to anything in it, but I'm sure your need for a place to stay is not the only reason for your appearance here tonight." Isshin said with a smile already knowing his reasons. The prospect of his friend and guard having close dealing with his eldest daughter on a daily basis made him want to burst out laughing at the madness that was sure to come.

"I would like to train and help your daughter in any way I can with your permission. The soul reaper that gave your daughter her power won't be able to get her ready for what's to come. I have a feeling that she will be right in the middle of it all and I have every intention to see to it that she will have it in her power to deal with it all." Doloran said taking the tea that Isshin had produced while listening to the man.

"You have my permission, train her well. I would like to keep some things from her for a while yet, she has enough to deal with at the moment without knowing the truth of her origins. You can stay in her room, if you have to get her in the middle of the night for any reason the twins might hear you and get suspicious." Silence fell over the two men, both in thought. "Will you be going to school alongside her or do you have something else in mind.

"Kisuke's arranging for me to attend her school. I'm still trying to figure out what exactly I'm going to tell the both of them. I don't want either knowing what is to come just yet and that goes for my past as well." He stated shifting in seat trying to find a more comfortable position.

"You could pose as a friend of Kisuke's, that way they won't know anything about you. All you would have to tell them is he sent you to help."

"I believe that would work. Well I better be going, I'll be here tomorrow after school. I want to have a look around town, get an image of the place. I'll stop by Kisuke's in the morning work out the details." He said standing.

"Good night Doloran and again it's good to have you back." Isshin rose as well bringing his hand forward. Doloran took his hand and shock it. "Good night as well and yes it is good to be back."

So fell the sword of fate, but to a man whom shatters's fate itself, what can fate bring.

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Author's Note: Here's just a little bit about my character.

First Name – Doloran

Last Name – Unknown

Age – Human(Sixteen – Seventeen) Soul Society(Unknown)

Hair Color - Blood Red

Eye Color – Goldish Brown

Height – 6.4

Zanpakuto – Unknown - two sets of twin Zanpakuto

Personality – Doloran can be high tempered at times, but is mostly calm and level headed. He doesn't always act his age. He's loyal to those close to him and always willing to help those in need. He holds his duty in high regard, but doesn't let it get in the way if he believes it will force him to do something he believes is wrong. He isn't afraid to speak his mind and will fight for what he believes in with everything he has.


	2. The New students

The Black Flame and the Frozen Wasteland

Summary:

A soul reaper long thought dead turns up in Karakura town the night of the attack on the Kurosaki family. Who is this new Reaper and what does he want, who are his allies and what does his return to mean for them all. A femIchi Fic

DSF – "I have changed little to nothing in this chapter, but maybe a few reworded sentences."

Sougetsu and Souketsu –"DSF does not own Bleach that right and honor belongs to Tite Kubo, he does however own any OC's and changes to the plot."

* * *

Chapter 2: The New Students

Doloran walked done the hall toward Ichigo's class room. He had met with Kisuke earlier in the morning to find out from what he needed to know about the school, staff and students and what he would need or need to know to be a student. Isshin had been at Kisuke's and they worked out his cover. He ended up being late because of it, but he figured it was better to have the story straight. The human world was by no means a strange place for him. It wasn't like what he had remembered from is time spent in it, much had changed, but the place he had come from before his return to the worlds he knew wasn't that much different from the human world in this day in age. No matter where one went there would always be social and pear hierarchies. Places and things may change, people rarely do. There's always the popular one's, the geeks, the loners, the bullies and the social inadequate and the ones that couldn't be defined in those stereotypes, but out of all those people it always comes down to who can see the bigger picture and see the truth behind the world. Those who are blind to such things walk through life without knowing truly what they and others do. It's that fundamental deference that cause the problems in the world, depending on circumstance dictate what the problems are an can be, but no matter the circumstance the underlying problem for any situation are always the same.

He could tell what the place the people he passed belonged to; even see those who had deep understanding in their eyes. Some stared at him, most likely because of his hair, others because they found him interesting. He made eye contact with any who seemed willing, he long believed you tell a lot about a person by looking their eyes and it was courtesy he gave to anyone who wanted it. That wasn't the only reason however; deceit could be seen one's eyes and with what he knew was going on in Soul Society he couldn't be to carful. From what Kisuke had told him the traitors had eyes and ears in Karakura Town. The possibility of someone finding out he was back was great, but the risk was worth it and any eyes or ears the traitors might have in the town most likely weren't even aware of it what they were being used for. They were good at hiding their tracks and that was what he was counting on, as long as he wasn't too noticeable than he probably wouldn't even be noticed until it was too late to change their plans.

The teacher introduced him as another new student to the class has he entered. The student's eyes lingered on him as if sizing him up. The teacher turned to look at him and asked. "Could introduce yourself please and then you can take a seat."

"Certainty sensei, hello everyone my name is Darkblaze Doloran and it's nice to meet you all." He said bowing to them.

"You can take the seat behind Kurosaki Ichigo. Kurosaki Ichigo please raise your hand." Sensei loud enthusiastic voice boomed. She raised her hand and with that Sensei returned to her work at her desk.

Ichigo locked eyes with him as he walked to take his seat as if searching for something. Two of the other students were also still looking at him. The soul Reaper was looking at him, her posture showed him nothing, however her eyes held worry and a since of weariness. The other student was tall young man with a tight hold on his spiritual energy and by his spiritual energy he could tell he was a Quincy. The young man could end up causing problems if he could figure out he was a Soul Reaper. He was sure that neither could feel his own energy he had a tight rein on his power, much tighter hold than the Quincy or the hold on what little energy the Soul Reaper had at the moment. He noticed while taking his seat behind Ichigo that she had a terrible control on what power see possessed, he felt it was something he would have to remedy quite quickly. He also noticed how protective her energy was over some of the students in the class and he figured they were most likely her friends.

He quickly learned that the human's studies weren't that hard to understand and retain. In fact one of the subjects they were covering was about a time in which he had spent some time in the living world. He found it funny how many things they had wrong; well not completely wrong rather just the details weren't complete or were understood in the wrong way. He was enjoying himself; the human's studies were fascinating. It was nice to be able to see how people thought about subjects in which he had lived through long after they had taken place. It was something he was sure very few had the pleasure of doing. Some of the student's thoughts about the situation in much the same way he had at the time, while others seemed to not understand why some of the things that happened were wrong or agreed with what the prideful idiots at the time a thought and done. He had not said much during the discussion since he had lived through some of it and thought for the type of discussion they were having it didn't seem right to say what he thought or rather knew. That didn't mean he didn't share his opinion or thoughts, he just chose to comment on their thoughts or feels.

Lunch time had come quickly and most of the students had left, he could fell Ichigo and the Soul Reaper leaving the school grounds, however the Quincy had stayed behind and was now standing before him with his hand stretched out in front of him waiting for Doloran to take it. Doloran looked up at the Quincy wondering what had he done to catch the Quincy interest in him. He knew the pride of the Quincy very well; the Quincy wouldn't just shake hands with just anyone. He had gained the Quincy's respect somehow. The thought of how the Quincy would react when he found out he was a Soul Reaper almost made him smirk.

"Ishida Uryuu, its pleasure to meet you." The Quincy had stated

"Darkblaze Doloran, it's a pleasure to meet you as well." Doloran stated taking his hand and shaking it.

"I agree with what you said during the discussion earlier. I found your point of view very enlightening." The Quincy stated.

Doloran was slightly amused; the Quincy had respect for him because he had an intellectual mind. He had been one of the students who had saw things in the same light as he. The Quincy had a inquisitive mind so it wasn't that surprising that Doloran had caught his attention. He was positive that the Quincy considered Soul Reapers as soulless idiots who did nothing if it wasn't for their own gain. The war on the Quincy wasn't easy for Soul Society or the Quincy. There were grave losses on both sides, unfortunately the Quincy lost more. Doloran had tried to stop Soul Society from trying to kill them off. He had saved several Quincy families from the final strike, including the Ishida's. He valued all life and couldn't stand to let a whole race be destroyed. So he hadn't had a problem going against Central Forty-Six and the Noble Bastards that had called for their heads. He wondered how the Quincy would feel if he knew he was in part responsible for his very existence.

"Thank you, it's nice to see others see things as I do." He said giving the Quincy a genuine smile.

"You're welcome, if you ever want to have a good discussion about something we talk about in school let me know. I'll leave you to your meal, I just wanted to introduce myself and let you know of my offer and don't let it bother you if the others in our class don't introduce themselves right away. They tend to be too wrapped up in their own circles to introduce themselves." With that the Quincy returned to his seat to eat his own lunch.

Doloran took out his lunch and began eating. He felt Ichigo fighting a Hollow and was sure the Quincy was aware of it as well. He figured the Soul Reaper was giving her a speech about duty and what was entitled in the job see now had. He was also sure Ichigo was telling her that she was doing what she thought was right rather than out of a since of duty. He was sure of that much from what Kisuke had told him; it seemed that Isshin had Kisuke and his employees watching over her. It didn't take long for Ichigo to purify the Hollow and for the two of them to start back toward the school. They were the last to enter the classroom before the end of lunch and just made in time for before the bell rang. Once again Ichigo made eye contact with him as she made her way to her seat.

The rest of the day went by fairly quickly and day was rather boring for Doloran, the rest of the subjects covered were of no interest for him. The last bell of the day had rung and everyone got up to leave. Doloran followed close behind Ichigo and the Soul Reaper without letting them know he was there. They had walked around quite a bit talking. They had run into one of Ichigo's fellow students, he hadn't heard what was said, but was sure he could feel that see had been attacked by a hollow. It wasn't long before they were walking once again. The Soul Reaper quickly split off from Ichigo asking Ichigo if she really wanted to know where she was staying. Ichigo replied no and then she left. Doloran could feel her heading toward Kisuke's shop, however he had no doubt she would end up at Ichigo's before the end of the night. He figured the soul reaper was planning on hiding somewhere in the house without Ichigo's knowledge, at least until a hollow showed up. He had been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed their arrival at Ichigo's house.

He heard Isshin yell and attack Ichigo has she entered the house. He couldn't hear all of what was said by Isshin, but what he had heard had amused him. It had been something along the lines of hello my oldest daughter and your late for dinner, it's almost ready. His feet had brought him inside the house just beyond the entrance. No one had noticed his presence inside the house, he was however sure Isshin felt his presence knowing he had the uncanny ability to fell his presence even when concealed completely. The fight finally ended when Ichigo's breasts ended up pressed against Isshin's face and he seemed compelled to comment on how much bigger they seemed. The final hit by Ichigo seemed to have left Isshin in a semi-conscious state on the floor. Doloran was having a hard time not bursting out in full blown laughter. He had stuffed his hands in the pockets of his slacks to keep himself from grabbing his sides since they were rather sore from holding his laughter. The twins had come into the room to see what was taking the older occupants in the house so long and stopped when their eye's had landed on him. The held curious expressions on their faces, which he figured was because it seemed some stranger had come onto their home, all be it no further than the doorway, but seemed to have watched the older occupants in the house fight without stopping them or calling for anyone else who could have been in the house. It looked to him as if there were going to say something, but stopped when Ichigo caught their gaze and turned toward him with a confused look on her face.

"Hey aren't you the new kid that just transferred here today and why the hell are you in my house?" She yelled rather loudly with a since of protectiveness in her voice.

"Hello my name is Darkblaze Doloran, it's nice to finally meet you all. I am indeed the new student and as to your second question I am here because your father Kurosaki Isshin said I could stay here since at the moment I'm homeless. A few days ago my house burnt down in Tokyo, my parents died in the fire. I had been staying at a friend's house when your father who was friends with my father who he knew from his work at the hospital in Tokyo found out about my parents death and my survival and offered me a place here since my friends parents couldn't afford for me to stay there for long." Doloran said bowing with as much sorrow he could put in his voice. The twins were crying at this point and Ichigo seemed lost for words. The story he had told them had been thought up by Isshin and Kisuke that morning. There had been a couple die in a house fire in Tokyo and Isshin had known the man from the hospital and they even had a son around what age he looked. The son had moved in with friends of the family, but it was never disclosed to the public so Isshin and Kisuke thought it would be the perfect cover for him and if anyone got specious there would be no way for them to prove he wasn't there son since his location or the family he went to wasn't disclosed.

The cover would also hide his true identity from Ichigo and the Soul Reaper, since Kisuke and Isshin thought he could pose as a teen, which like Ichigo could talk and communicate with spirits. He was to tell them that he was attacked by hollow one night and saved by Kisuke, who turned him into a soul reaper so he could protect himself and the people and spirits around him who he so desperately wanted to protect. They thought that it would appeal to Ichigo's own need to protect and would keep her from not believing the story and they also thought it would keep both her and the Soul Reaper from questioning why he knew Kisuke and keep them from figuring out that Isshin was a soul reaper himself. He had been against it at first since he would have to lie to them so much and it was not something he wanted to do, but agreed in the end knowing the cover was needed if they wanted to keep the truth from the other two for the time being. It was too early for either of them to know the truth. The three of them agreed that Ichigo wouldn't be able to handle it and that the Soul Reaper most likely wouldn't believe them. So it was decided it was best that no one would know the truth until it was time for Soul Society to know of his return and the traitors were uncovered.

The younger twin was the first to recover. "My name Is Yuzu and it's nice to meet you as well. Do you have anything left from the fire?" Yuzu asked bowing nudging her twin for her to introduce herself.

The older twin understood and bowed, while introducing herself. "Hello, I'm Karin." The older twin said in an uninterested voice, her personality intact once again, although her eye's told otherwise.

"I've already moved what belongings he has into Ichigo's room, since that's where he well be staying." Isshin stated finally picking himself off the floor as he hovered over Doloran looking amused at how he looked in the high school uniform and at how Ichigo's face was struck in complete horror over what he had said. Yuzu's eyes widened before she started giggling. Karin looked like she expected nothing less from her father's craziness. Doloran burst out laughing over the look on Ichigo's face.

"What the hell dad, I can't have a boy living in my room have you forgot I'm a girl and why can't he stay in the guest room?" Ichigo yelled, once again throwing a punch at her father.

Isshin dodged the punch and replied. "The quest room is for quests. He isn't a quest, this is his home now just think of him as a member of the family and besides how do you think he would feel if he was put in the guestroom like he wasn't wanted in this house and I was hoping you the two of you could make me grand babies." Isshin stared in a serious tone before ending in a joyful tone, his hands held in front of him in a pleading manner.

Ichigo wasted no time in hitting Isshin once again her face red in anger and embarrassment. The hit was so hard Doloran swore he herd Isshin's jaw crack. Karin shuck her head in disbelief at Isshin's comment. Yuzu was red-faced as well. Doloran was amused at first, but soon was just as embarrassed when he realized he was included in that comment. It seemed that Isshin hadn't changed much over the years of his absence. Yuzu seemed to have decided she had seen enough and returned to the kitchen to finish dinner with Karin following after her.

"Dad I just met the guy, what the hell is wrong with you." Ichigo said staring at her father, massive waves of killer intent rolling of her.

Doloran quickly noticed that she had not said she wouldn't, he found that very interesting and apparently Isshin had as well, because what was said next completely set her off. "So that means you'll considerate. Maskai our little girl is growing up."

"I said no such thing goat face, you're such a pervert." She hit him square in the face once again while heading for the stairs. "I'm going to my room."

Isshin recovered quickly and knelled before a picture of Maskai yelling how their daughter was so mean to him and how he couldn't understand what was so bad about his request. Doloran had taking the opportunity to place his school back at the foot of the stairs and make his way to the kitchen. Yuzu had set the table and was serving dinner when he entered the kitchen. Yuzu had noticed that Ichigo wasn't with him and asked where she was. "Darkblaze-san where is Ichi-nee?" She said with a worried expression on her face.

"You don't have to refer to me in such a formal manner, Doloran is fine. I hate being so formal and I would like to be part of your family. Your nee-san has gone to her room; it seems your father has angered her." Doloran stated calmly.

"Then I'll go get her, dinner's ready."

"There's no need, I'll take her dinner to her. I would like to get to know her better since

I'll be living in her room, if that isn't a problem."

"It won't be a problem, she won't want to eat dinner with goat face now anyway, right Yuzu." Karin stated once again in an uninterested way.

"Your right Karin, if you could take her dinner to her I would be very grateful Doloran-san." Yuzu said handing him is food as well as Ichigo's.

Doloran quickly returned to the stairs grabbing his bag proceeding to head to Ichigo's room when he felt a hand on his shoulder stopping his progress. Turning his head he saw it was Isshin.

"Don't give them too much of a scare Doloran and welcome to the family." Isshin said with a serious expression.

"I won't Isshin and thank you." Doloran replied heading up the stairs once Isshin removed his hand from his shoulder. He quickly found his way to Ichigo's room and entered when he found it unlocked. Ichigo was setting on her bead doing homework. She seemed to have not noticed his presence as he sat on the floor mat Isshin most of laid out for him, knowing he would rather sleep on the floor than a bed. He sat there a while waiting for her to notice him. Finally he got tired of waiting and spoke.

"Here's your dinner strawberry, thought I would bring it to you since you didn't seem to want to eat dinner down stairs." With a smile after he realized he startled her.

"Thank you and my name does not mean strawberry. It means…"

"Number one guardian, correct and your welcome." She seemed surprised that he knew the true meaning. She took the plate he was holding out before him.

"Yes it does and you could have told me at school you know." She said staring in his eyes.

"I could have, but Isshin asked me not to and I didn't think you would want your friends and classmates knowing you were going to have the new transfer student who is a guy living in your house." He said noticing the Soul Reaper was in her closet and was listening closely to the conversation.

"That makes sense and your right I wouldn't want that." She said taking a bite of her food.

"I won't intrude in your life with your friends and I'll be up early in the morning so I'll be out of your hair as quickly as possible. Your father already laid the mat out on the floor for me so that's where I'll be sleeping. I don't have much stuff so I can keep what I have in my duffel bags."

"You don't have to do that; you've been through enough without having to think you need worry about intruding in our lives. If you want to put a few things out in our room you're more than welcome to, I know the pain of losing a parent. I'm sure my friends would accept you." She said with understanding in her eyes. He hadn't missed that she had said their room. He could tell she was a very compassionate person and that she had will to protect just as strong as his own. The family he said he came from wasn't really his, but he had lost both his parents not that long ago. It had been a long time for Soul Society, but the place he had come from time moved much differently than here. So it hadn't been long for him and the wounds of what happened were still very fresh in his mind. It was comforting to know that the family he had sworn to protect was so caring.

"Thank you, I appreciate it and now that that's all settled, Soul Reaper you can come out of the closet." Ichigo was left speechless and a muffled gasp could be heard from the closet.


	3. The Noble and The New Mission

The Black Flame and the Frozen Wasteland

Summary:

A soul reaper long thought dead turns up in Karakura town the night of the attack on the Kurosaki family. Who is this new Reaper and what does he want, who are his allies and what does his return to mean for them all. A femIchi Fic

DSF – "Again with this chapter I changed very little, so enjoy."

Sougetsu and Souketsu – "DSF does not own Bleach that right and honor belongs to Tite Kubo, he does however own any OC's and changes to the plot."

* * *

Chapter 3: The Noble and the New Mission.

Ichigo stared at Doloran with eyes wide, her brain having fried after hearing call out to that a soul reaper resided in her closet. Nothing else had been heard from the closet or from the Soul Reaper in it. A pin could be dropped a mile away and all in the room would be able to hear it. The bomb shell he dropped had them both wondering what to do or say.

"You have nothing to fear from me Soul Reaper; I'm not from Soul Society. I'm here to help you with Ichigo, Kisuke sent me." Doloran said in the most reassuring tone he could muster. It wasn't long before she stuck her head out from the closet and got up from the spare mattress and sat a next to Ichigo on the bed. Ichigo was furious at this point over the Soul Reaper being in her closet and thinking Doloran lied, but see stayed quiet willing to let them say what they would. She had looked into his eyes on several occasions earlier in the day and felt he was a trustworthy person, his eyes also held determination and protectiveness. She did not believe he would hurt either of them. That didn't mean she didn't want an explanation out of both of them, even if she figured the Soul Reaper would end up in her house.

"I did not lie to you I did lose my parents, has for why I know Kisuke, he saved me some time ago form a hollow. He trained me in the soul reaper arts, allowing me to protect those close to me; unfortunately the power of a soul reaper doesn't help when your house is on fire."

"So that's how you knew I was here and my name is Kuchiki Rukia, however that doesn't explain how he contacted you so fast. The events leading to our situation just happened last night." She said, still a little uneasy about the man before her and Ichigo.

"That's easy enough to explain I was staying at Kisuke's. When the event's of last night, Kisuke called the hospital this morning asking if there was anyone who could take me in hoping your dad would hear about it and offer me a place and he did, so here I am." After that was said silence once again settled over the three. Doloran was surprised they were taking it so well. He was sure Rukia had everything planed out and it all had gone out the window with his arrival.

"What I don't get is why you're in my room Rukia? When you said you had a place to stay I didn't think you meant my house and how exactly do you plan on hiding yourself from my family?" Ichigo asked seemingly a little irritated.

"That should be obvious strawberry. She needed to be close to you to train and watch over you. Hiding her from your family won't be to hard since I'm living in your room no one will be suspicious when they here you talking to someone and she can take care of hygiene in the morning before anybody else gets up and we can give her some of our food if we occasionally eat in your room or sneak some to her while your sister's and dad are busy. Which reminds me, Rukia you can have my food I'm not really hungry." Doloran said with a smile before a pillow hit him in the head.

"Would you stop calling me strawberry, that's not what my name means! I could call you strawberry as well with that red hair of yours." She said a little angry that he called her strawberry again. "I guess you're right though." She said a few moments later. Rukia seemed content to listen to the two of them while she sat eating the food Doloran offered her, being quite hungry.

"I know almost everything about being a soul reaper so you'll be ready when they come." He said watching the Rukia's expression change to one of horror. She hadn't wanted Ichigo to now until it was too late for her to do anything about, but it seemed Doloran had other plans.

"Who's coming and why must I be ready." Ichigo asked truly confused.

"Soul Society, Kuchiki-san committed a crime when she gave you her powers so you could protect your family. I know you don't believe that she did anything wrong and neither do I, however Soul Society deals in absolutes and not so much the grey area in between right and wrong. Doing something wrong for the right reasons just makes you a fool in their eyes. So it's very unlikely that they would listen to what really happened, they would kill you along with her. It's much cleaner that way to them, even if it's wrong." Doloran said calmly trying not to let any of his anger towards Soul Society come through, he had to have a clear mind if what he had planed is going to work. The old fouls were going to have one hell of a wakeup call when he returned to Soul Society. Ichigo was furious, her head was down and her hair was covering her face, but he was sure her eyes were burning with defiance. Her reaction was exactly what he wanted; it meant she would take whatever he threw at her and more. She would be ready for the invasion.

The soul reaper was shocked at what she had heard. This man before her knew what Soul Society would end up doing and not to mention he knew how they thought. Her face fell once she realized she had drug another person into this, but she was beginning to not believe that he was human. Doloran had caught on to her unspoken thoughts and had every intention of setting her straight; even though he had no idea she was beginning to suspect the truth. "You shouldn't feel guilty about Ichigo or me being evolved in this. Ichigo has the power to protect her family, something I'm sure she has always craved as I had once before I gained my own power. I have no intention of letting them hurt you, so I'll help no matter what you say." Doloran said looking her in the eye so she could see the determination and will in his eyes.

"Look, you both should just stay out of it; they're going to execute me no matter what you do. So just protect yourselves when they come." She said once again letting her face fall.

She seemed to have struck at something in Ichigo, she had control of her emotions and her head had risen and her eyes were burning with determination. "He's right Rukia, nothing you can say will stop us from helping you so deal with it and you have changed my life for the better by giving me your power. So don't feel guilty." She said finishing with a smile turning toward Doloran. Everything Doloran had said was true. She may have just got her powers, but she knew she would get more powerful. She would see to it that she could hold as many people as she could in her arms. This man before her was giving her the strength she so desired and Rukia had made it all possible. "So when do we start this training of yours?" She said casting away any remaining fears she had.

Doloran hadn't thought about how or where he was going to train her; he hadn't even been back for twenty four hours yet. He hadn't thought things would go this easy, but before he could think any further two very distinctly female voices rang out in his head. "_Doloran look out_." At the same time Rukia's pager went off. Rising as quickly as he could he brought himself before the two girls blocking a blow from a hollow which had just appeared through the wall just above Ichigo's headboard with the sword that was held on the right side of his obi. They girls had neither seen nor heard his movements before they realized he was in front of them. "Kuchiki-san remove her from her body, your training starts now Ichigo." Doloran said pushing the hollow back into the void in had created in the wall while also speaking in to his mind to address the two female voices in his head that had warned him of the hollow. "_Thinks for the warning you two, I'm glad to finally hear you again. We'll talk after the hollow is taken care of._" There had been now replay back, but he hadn't really expected there to be.

The hollow reappeared through the opposite wall heading straight for Ichigo. She separated from her body just in time to block the hollow. She pushed it back taking a swipe at the hollows head. He knew instantly the strike was to shallow. The hollow screamed as a small piece of it mask broke away just above its left cheek. The hollow returned to returned through the void it had created, but not before Ichigo got a good look at the hollows face. Ichigo's face was struck in horror, she was shaking and her head was down. Doloran had an idea why she looked like she did and realized she hadn't learned the full truth about hollows. It didn't surprise him, she had only killed one hollow and Rukia probably hadn't told her what was behind the mask, but he had a feeling it wasn't the full problem.

"Rukia you said that hollows were evil spirits, but that was a human face behind that mask and it was Orihime's nii-san." Silence followed after that.

Rukia seemed unable to say anything so Doloran took the lead. "Ichigo if that was indeed her brother than its most likely after her. Hollows are bad spirits, but they were once human. Many spirits hold onto people and things in this word long after they've died, which can lead to them turning evil if there not sent to Soul Society. Once a spirit has become a hollow they can never go back and they usually start attacking their relatives."

"Does that mean the hollow will go after Orihime? Ichigo asked, her eyes holding great worry for her friend.

"Yes, that is most likely why it's here, we must move quickly." Rukia finally spoke.

"Yes, we most move quickly, the hollows on the move. Kuchiki-san, please jump on my back, we can move much more quickly that way." Doloran said kneeling on one knee. Rukia did as he asked and jumped on his back. "Follow me Ichigo." He said jumping out of her window landing on a nearby roof. Ichigo followed shortly afterward.

Doloran moved swiftly, the hollow was close and he was certain it was after Ichigo's friend. The trip around the city he had taken the night before was paying off, he a good idea where they were headed. The area was densely housed, which would make it hard to fight the hollow without others getting hurt. He knew he would have to do his best to force the hollow away from any houses while he had Ichigo battle the hollow. "Ichigo stay alert, I want you to fight the hollow. I'll be close if you need help, but I want to get a sense of your abilities so I know where to start your training." He said calmly, Ichigo nodding to him that she understood.

The area they landed in where he was sure where the hollow would appear Doloran took a perch on the tallest building he could find. He could since Ichigo's friend through Ichigo own energy surrounding her; it was on her and her home and seemed there was one other in the house as well.

"Ichigo be on guard its close, although it's still hiding in between the worlds." Doloran said as once again kneeled to let Rukia down. "Ichigo I want you to get inside your friends house and wait there. I have a feeling that's where it will appear again. When it does appear push it out here, we want to keep the damage down."

"Sure Doloran, but why did it come after us first?" Ichigo asked.

"It was after you Ichigo, because your own energy blankets your friends. So the hollow most likely sensed your energy on her and went after you because you're connected to her and the hollows twisted emotions lead it to attack anyone connected to its target." Rukia said

"Just don't be reckless and be safe Ichigo. Your friends safety is top priority, remember that." Doloran said giving Ichigo a look telling her to move. The silence that followed after she left was an uncomfortable silence. Rukia still seemed to be wary around him. He knew it would take time to build trust between them. The hollow appearing was unexpected, but it was a chance to build a little trust. That trust was coming easier to Ichigo, which he believed it to be an effect of their ideals being much the same.

"If you have something you need to get off your chest then say it now. I don't want Ichigo to see any mistrust between us." Doloran said reaching out his scenes to keep an eye Ichigo.

"It's hard to trust someone when they don't tell you who they really are. I don't believe for a minute that you're human. I've all ready realized that you really do want to help us or we would already be died and I can understand why you didn't tell Ichigo the truth. She can't handle the truth right know, but I am not her. I can handle the truth and I want it or I'll tell her you can't be trusted." Rukia said crossing her arms giving Doloran a stern look.

"I won't tell you everything, but I will tell you this. I am from Soul Society, but from a very long time and the time that's past since I was gone and the time that I have experienced is different. I'm closer to Ichigo's age than any soul reaper. I can't tell you who I was or why I'm back. Just know that I am here to help and that I will do everything in my power to protect you and Ichigo." Doloran said surprised she had seen through is cover so soon. The soul reaper was smart, he hadn't expected her to see through him so soon, if anything he figured she would question Hat n' Clogs involvement in him being here. It was clear to him that he would have to be very careful about what he said and did moving forward. He took the time to get the object Kisuke had put in while he had answered her without letting her notice and put it in the folds of his robes while she wasn't looking toward him.

Rukia wasn't exactly satisfied with his answers, but she figured it was all she was going to get out of him for now. It's not that she didn't trust him per say, it had more to do with not knowing anything about him. She wasn't used to having no information and with what she knew was going to happen it meant things were going to be very difficult. It would take a while, but she was sure that trust would grow between them all. There was something about the man that made her unable to completely mistrust him. "Well if you want there to by trust between us how bout we call each other by our first names."

"Sure and here it comes" Doloran stated drawing the two blades on either side of his obi readying himself incase Ichigo needed his help. The petite soul reaper was getting a good look at the two blades for the first time. The blades were identical; they were slightly longer than normal katana. The silver blades gleamed in the moonlight, the tsuba was rectangular in shape and bore snow like designs on either side of it and the designs were blue in color. The rapping's on the handle were deep blue in color and two black tassels extended from the hilt of the blades. She also noticed the sheaths were black in color and the bindings on the sheaths were deep blue as well. In the petite soul reapers eyes they were beautiful. It felt good to Doloran to hold the two blades in his hands once again. He fell them pulsing in his hands, resonating with his souls.

* * *

The hollow was giving Ichigo a little trouble; it kept going after Orihime and Tatsuki. She hadn't been that surprised to see Tatsuki, she often spent a great deal of time at Orihime's house. Tonight just had to be one of those nights she spent at her house and it was giving Ichigo a lot of trouble getting the hollow outside when it kept going after her two friends. The three of them were the best of friends. Ichigo and Tatsuki had known each other far longer, but Orihime had still managed to be just as close to the two of them despite that fact. Ichigo had even known Orihime's nii-san for a short time. Sora, Orihime's nii-san had been a great man. Their parents had been abusive, so Sora had taken Orihime once he was old enough to support them both. He was kind and gentle and had cared for nothing more than Orihime's safety. So it wasn't proving to be that hard to deal with fighting him since he was now a hollow. Everything the hollow was saying was twisted and that fact had taken away any reservation she had about fighting him and thrown them out the window.

Her two friends had only minor injuries and she was thankful for that, but the two of them were able to see and hear them and that was tearing at the strings of Ichigo heart. For the sake of her friends she would end this quickly she couldn't let them be hurt or feel any more pain over the loss of her brother than the three of them had already experienced. She and the hollow were locked in place, neither able to make a move without losing their footing or taking injury. Something was rising deep within Ichigo fueling her determination to end this disgrace in front of her. The strength she was feeling seemed much stronger than what she had felt the night before. She grasped at the strength and instinctively pushed it into her over grown blade. The hollow was losing ground now and with one final push from Ichigo the hollow was sent flying through the wall Ichigo was facing into the night. Holding on to the power she felt she rushed at the place where the hollow was thrown ready to end its pathetic existence.

* * *

Doloran was quite impressed from his perch on the nearby roof where he stood; he felt everything going on inside the house. Once the battle had begun he felt another person in the house besides Ichigo, her friend Orihime and the hollow. Ichigo was doing quite well, her fighting style left much to be desired, but she had only been a soul reaper for a short while. She showed great promise and he was even more surprised when he felt it, the power she called upon just before she sent the hollow through the wall of her friend's apartment.

It was a power only those who truly understand what it meant to protect what one holds dear with all one's self can call upon. Only those who have forged strong friendship with those around them can understand that power. It was something Doloran was very familiar with, for he too held that power. In the instant she called upon it their souls resonated with one another. He knew she wouldn't understand it at first, but with time it would be her greatest ally. It was rare even for the most seasoned worrier to attain it or understand it, most wouldn't defend or protect to the point where it could be awakened. She had a strong heart to be able to so at such a young age. Her training would be all the harder now that he had seen what she could call upon.

The hollow recovered lunched itself at Ichigo attacking with its clawed hand; she quickly caught its clawed hand with her blade and kicked it in the face sending it flying once again. Doloran noticed the soul reapers absence at this point while still keeping an eye on Ichigo. Ichigo went after the hollow jumping in the air, bring her blade down she sliced into the hollow's arm. The hollow let a cry in pain once again preparing to leave once more. Acting quickly Doloran crossed the distance from the roof where he stood to the hollow slicing it clean in half.

"Damn it, why the hell did you do that for? I thought you said you would only interfere if I need help." Ichigo said with a pout and her arms crossed under her breasts.

Doloran thought she looked quite cute with crossed arms and pouting, he couldn't help the smile now plastered on his face. "The hollow was going to retreat and I knew you wouldn't kill it in time so I knew I had to strike before it could. You did good Ichigo" Doloran said with an even bigger smile sheathing both his swords.

"So where's Rukia?"

"I'm right here Ichigo." The both turned to see Rukia jumping down from the hole in Orihime's house.

"So what do we do about the hole in Orihime's apartment?" Ichigo asked with a frown.

"I'll call Kisuke and have him get one of his employee's to come over and fix it. So did you use the kikanshinki on them?" Doloran said taking out his touch phone given to him by Kisuke dialing his number.

"What a kikanshinki and who is this Kisuke you keep talking about?" Ichigo asked.

"The kikanshinki replaces the memory of anyone it's used on, but if the person is strongly spiritually aware it won't work or it will fade over time. I used on your friends once I healed them so they won't remember what happened tonight encase they saw you or the hollow. As per your second question, Kisuke is a dealer of soul reaper goods and has helped both Doloran and I." Rukia said gazing at the hole in the apartment.

"Well Kisuke said he will send his people over to take care of the apartment, so all we have to do is head home and you forgot to mention Kisuke runs a candy store as well." Doloran said tucking his phone away between the folds in his robs.

"Alright then let's go home, I'm tired and I don't want to spend all day tomorrow sleeping. It's Saturday after all so no school." Ichigo said turning away to walk home.

"Don't forget we start your training tomorrow, so no sleeping in Strawberry."

"Damn you Doloran, stop calling me strawberry and can't you give me tomorrow off since we took care of that hollow?" she said turning toward him.

"No Strawberry, I said we were going to start tomorrow so that what were going to do." Doloran said with a smile seeing her get bright red over him calling her strawberry once again. She turned away from him and stormed off pouting once again. Rukia seeing this burst out laughing. One though stood out in his mind, he was going to have fun teasing the strawberry.

The walk home was a silent one, it wasn't an uncomfortable one. Neither Doloran nor Rukia wanted to speak, for the moment they both felt like they had said all they needed to.

Once home they saw Ichigo seating on her bed waiting for them to come in. Shutting the window once they were both in Ichigo lay in her bed turning off the light. Rukia went to the closet and Doloran lay on the mat seeing Ichigo had gotten him a couple pillows and a blanket, she had even laid a sheet on the mat.

* * *

Kikanshinki – Is a memory replacement device that allows a soul reaper to replace the memories of someone who has either seen too much or needs to plant false memories.


	4. The Woman in Blue and The Falling Snow

The Black Flame and the Frozen Wasteland

Summary:

A soul reaper long thought dead turns up in Karakura town the night of the attack on the Kurosaki family. Who is this new Reaper and what does he want, who are his allies and what does his return to mean for them all. A femIchi Fic

Souketsu – "Ya we get to meet us in this chapter!"

Sougetsu – "You are entirely to cheering."

Souketsu – "Ah, come on its not every day that you the readers get to meet us and our wielders inner world."

Sougetsu – "Like I said you are too cheery, I'm sure they won't care more than they would and body else Zanpakuto." Souketsu drawls her Zanpakuto and advances toward Souketsu.

Sougetsu – "you wouldn't dare. She to draws her own Zanpakuto and stands her ground."

With a yell of Bankai from the two spirits the room is reduced to white. The Author appears.

DSF – "well that was unexpected, since it appears they may take a well to finish I guess in falls to me to do the disclaimer. I do not own Bleach that right and honor belongs to Tite Kubo, I do however own any OC's and changes to the plot."

* * *

Chapter 4: The women in Blue and the Fallings snow

Doloran lay awake for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. Sleep hadn't eluded him this badly in a long time. So he stared at the sealing wondering what could be bothering him so much that he was unable to sleep. He believed his mind was at peace for once in his life, in reality the edge he had felt just wasn't there. So much had happened since his departure from Soul Society. The death of his father had hurt him greatly. The fact that it had been by his hand would have caused him even greater pain if he had any chose, but as it was he hadn't. So it wasn't as if it was weighting on his mind. He had dealt with his father's death like he had every other death in his life, except for one. His mother's death had weighted heavily on his mind and soul. He had not been able to stop it from happening and that fact had hurt him greatly. There were so many things that happened that should have told him of her coming death, but he failed to notice even one.

He realized it was pointless to try and rationalize that event in his life. Clearing his mind once again he lay on the mat waiting for sleep to come. He lay there for what seemed like hours with sleep still eluding him. It was unbearable to him to just lay there so he decided he would visit his inner world. The inner world of a soul reaper was different for each one. It was a place that lay in the center of one's mind created by one's very soul. The entirety of one's being made up the soul reapers inner world. During the time he lived in Soul Society he had learned what many of his friends inner worlds looked like and he felt his was by far one of the most unique. The pull to his inner world was rather easy compared to the resent times when he had tried to go there, his powers had been somewhat dormant and it had been rather hard to get to his inner world when he was able.

He found himself perched upon the tallest sky scraper nearest to the center of his inner world. The center part of his inner world was comprised of a vast city; at the very center of the city lay a small park with a small island surround by water where a small cabin sat. The cabin had a rap around porch and stone chimney. The ground around the cabin was covered in snow and the lake around the cabin was partially frozen. To the north of the city lay a vast mountain range covered in a dense forest, several volcanos' lay there as well. To the south past the city lay a vast snow covered forested mountain range. To the east past the city laid a beach and a vast ocean and to the west of the city lay the vast plains littered with ancient ruins.

The weather in his inner world didn't change except for in the city. His state of mind and even the seasons dictated what the weather was like. At the moment the city was filled with hopeful skies and a calm breeze. He felt at peace in his inner world, a peace that couldn't be and hadn't been achieved anywhere else he had ever been. His power's were returning to him, the two female voices he had heard in his mind early that night had been proof enough and his easy entry to his inner world was even more proof. It made him feel joy he hadn't felt in a long time.

The focus of his trip this time to his inner world lay in the small cabin in the very center of his inner world. Rising from the kneeling position he had taken upon his arrival, he took off toward said cabin. He had been quite surprised upon his arrival to his inner world that it hadn't changed much. It never had drastic changes, but every experience he had added or changed things in his inner world. Well maybe not everyone, but those experiences that were profound enough usually changed things.

Arriving at the cabin he saw a light coming through the windows. It brought him a since of relief, it meant they were indeed in the cabin. Snow fell all around the cabin and all around the cabin lay ice figures of different shapes and sizes. On the door to the cabin lay a snow covered wreath. He took hold of the door knob turning it, opening the door and walking in. The space inside the cabin was quite large for the size of the cabin from the outside. There was a large cooking area, living room, dining room and a small study. He had always thought the study was weird; every book he had ever read had appeared there. At the very center of the cabin lay a large stone fire place with a built in grate for grilling. A second floor in the cabin spanned half the cabin with a railing overlooking the kitchen and living room. The second floor held several beds.

Entering the living room he took a seat on the sofa. His eye's fell on the big arm chair across from the sofa. A woman in her early thirties sat there, her features were very striking. She had deep blue eye, soft face and long ocean blue hair. She wore a beautiful deep blue kimono with snow designs and a long white scarf flowed from around her neck. A dragon lay curled up around the arm chair. The dragon deep blue in color with black wickers and spikes looked up acknowledging his presence. The dragon bore the same blue eyes. The two made a beautiful pair.

Doloran held a since of great respect for the two in front of him. His partners in combat, friends and he even considered them family. They were and always would be two of the spirits of his inner world. They were his teachers, his confidants in times of need. The woman gave him a warm smile and the dragon gave him a warm growl. They were just as happy to see him as he was seeing them. He found it odd that they weren't both in human form; they both had the ability to switch between human and dragon form and had that ability because they were twins.

"_It's so good to see you Doloran and to be awake again." _The women said

"_I agree_" The dragon said in a feminine voice quite close to her twin.

"I'm quite happy to hear and see both of you again after such a long time Souketsu Kyuuten Sougetsu Ryuujin." They were an oddity in Soul Society; twin Zanpakuto that were completely separate from one another. He was able to call upon either twin at any time without the other. He had long believed it had something to do with the fact that they could change between human and dragon form at will. They had told him once that their names didn't change when he was able to obtain bankai, so he believed that factored in as well, but hadn't been able to prove it yet since he hadn't obtained bankai yet. They truly were unique and his other two spirits were just as unique. "So where are the other two, haven't they awoken yet?"

"_No they haven't awoken yet and were not sure where exactly they are at in your inner world"_ The Zanpakuto spirit named Souketsu Kyuuten who appeared as a woman said.

"_Do not worry Doloran; they will awaken when you are in need of them. I suspect you haven't come here just to talk about them or to talk of our own awakening. You could have waited till tomorrow when you start the young ones training to converse with us, so what's on your mind_." The Zanpakuto spirit Sougetsu Ryuujin who appeared as a dragon said.

"I suppose your right. I couldn't sleep so I came here. I don't know what is causing it, at first I thought it was mom or dad, but it just doesn't fell like that's what it is. Something's bothering me, but I just can't put my finger on it." He said with his eyes down cast.

Souketsu Kyuuten got up from the chair and walked over to Doloran knelling on the floor before him and took hold of his chin forcing him to look at her. She could feel he was tense, his spiritual pressure radiated it. She felt as well that it wasn't his mother or father that was weighting on him. When they were in his mind he was usually angry and wouldn't talk even to them. His presence in his inner world was enough proof of that. Ever since his mother's death she had tried to ease that part of her wielders heart, even her twin had tried as well. She was after all a motherly figure. She and her twin may have been created from their wielders soul, but they bore features from his mother and some of her personality had become part of them as well. They weren't the first in his inner world and as such much more of his experiences went into their creation. _"Perhaps your arrival here was too easy or you're worried about being a part of a family again. Some of your wounds from the past haven't healed." _She gave him a worm smile placing her hand on his shoulder sure that he would keep eye contact.

Sougetsu Ryuujin uncurled herself from the chair rising to move toward her wielder as well. She reached her neck over Souketsu so she could capture her wielders gaze. Sure that she had caught his attention she gave him her thoughts. _"Your apprehension is understandable, but you are a different person and a much stronger one. If you don't want the past to repeat its self, than make sure it doesn't happen. It's within your power and the young lady has it within her to help you in that endeavor. I can fell the young reapers power on her, but not within her. She may have barrowed power, but the young lady has her own power deep within her it just needs help to awakened fully. Help that you can give her."_

Souketsu was in agreement with her twin perhaps that was the reason for his sleeplessness. He had trouble putting trust in himself since the tragic events that took him from Soul Society. He was by far the youngest soul reaper except for the young lady. So much at been put on his shoulders at a young age, he had carried it all quite well and all without complaint or failure. In the long run it had hurt him all the same, he never learned failure. He expected to succeed at everything. He had lost the childhood he should have had. After all that had happened in the months leading up to his forced departure from Soul Society had left him defeated, but that wasn't what really hurt him the most, his believe that if he had done things different or known more he would have not been taken from soul Society and that he could have saved the young lady's mother. She knew he must feel it was his fault and that he not only failed his duty, his oath, but most of all Isshin-san. "_Trust in yourself and nothing can beat you. We will always be by your side, you never fight alone. Leave the past in the past and move forward._" Souketsu lovely voice seemed to cut through the cloud hanging over Doloran.

A smile now adorned his face, his mood now much better than it was. He felt he was always good at hiding his true thoughts and feelings. It was something all soul reapers wore taught to do. He had always done so except around his mother. He never liked burdening his friends, family and even his Zanpakuto with his true thoughts and feelings when something was bothering him. He believed it wrong to do so. It wasn't as if he thought it made him week if he did so as some soul reapers thought. He just didn't like giving others more to worry about and he was pretty good at dealing with his own problems, but he should have known that even though he could hide things even from himself it was impossible to hide them from his Zanpakuto. The problem was becoming clear to him now. In his heart he knew most of what he blamed himself for wasn't his fault, but it was easier to blame himself than who or what was really responsible. Seeing Isshin's daughter had brought a lot of things to the surface and he subconsciously pushed those thoughts away during everything that taken place that day, but laying on the mat trying to sleep had given his mind the time to wonder and those thought came back even if he hadn't realized it.

His Zanpakuto of course picked up on it, which they always did. He never really had anyone he was close enough to that he felt he could share those feelings and thoughts with. Of course his mother at one point had been that person, but he had spent so little time at home in Soul Society and then she was gone and he had been taken away from Soul Society. He had found no one during his time in that other world either. He had talked with his informant in Soul Society through a device his mother had given the man when he was a boy in the Rukongai. She had told him to use it he was ever in trouble and needed help, but when he had used it his mother had already been dead so it had contacted him instead. He was quite surprised it had worked with him them being in two separate dimensions, but his mother had been a very smart women and she had made sure that if anything had happened to her it would be able to reach him instead.

Doloran had listened to the boy tell him what was wrong and since he didn't know how to get home he told the boy to get close to the man and told the boy to contact him regularly letting him know what he man was planning until he found a way home. They had become good friends over the course of years that he had been away. He had learned quite quickly that the time flow between the two dimensions was different and the knowledge that most of the people he knew and cared for would be dead by the time he got back and that greatly hurt him, adding to what he already felt. He could have told some of it to the man he had learned to call friend, but much of what he knew he couldn't speak of or thought would only in danger his friend more and he couldn't live with another person being taken down because of something he had done.

Then the realization that seeing and being around someone who knew some of the pain he felt had awoken all of those thought and feelings he had buried to keep going were brought back. During the time he was in the other dimension his Zanpakuto were somewhat sealed. He was rarely able to speak to them and was unable to train with them so he had took it upon himself to train the powers he got from his mother's family. It was something to do, something to strive for and most of all it kept his mind away from the pain. The joy of now having them back, even if not fully, gave him a huge since of relief.

"Thank you, I feel much better now." The two spirits gave him a warm smile, well as much as a dragon could.

"_We are always here when you need us_." Sougestu said curling up on the floor once again.

"_Remember we are always here and all you need to do is call_" Souketsu said standing looking out one of the windows of the cabin gazing at the lake.

At first Doloran didn't understand why she was talking as if he was leaving and then he felt it the pull on him to return.

* * *

Sougestu looked toward the sky. "_Be careful Doloran, teach her well. I believe things are not going to go as you plan. Stay safe._"

_"So you've awoken, are you going to fight him again?"_ Souketsu asked the man entering the cabin not taking her gaze off the lake.

"**I suppose so; he's gotten stronger after all**."

"_The others won't let you interfere. He's not the only one who's gotten stronger_." Sougetsu said growling at the newcomer.

"_He won't let you win, he'll beat you like he did the last time_." Souketsu said sending a firm glare of defiance toward the man.

"**I suppose your right, but then again you never know. There still asleep and you know the real reason I have for fighting him. In the end it's all up to him. He still has a lot to learn and I might just stay out of his way for awhile just to see how he deals with the girl, she interests me greatly**." The man said with a wicked smile adorning his face.

"_Any interest you have with her can't be good and we won't let you interfere with her._" Sougetsu growled at him sending a wave of ice his way.

Doloran opened his eyes to a pillow flying toward his face unaware of what was going on in his inner world. "Would you wake the hell up already! I'm not waiting all day"

Doloran looked across the room to see it was Ichigo who had thrown the pillow and she didn't look to happy. "I'm up, I'm up."

"Well it took you long enough. So get up and take a shower before I find something else to do." Ichigo said, arms crossed staring at him.

Doloran got up grabbing the extra back he had picked up from Kisuke's the day before. Getting some clean clothes from it his gaze moved past Ichigo to the window. It looked to be about a nine or so in the morning. He had hoped to get up a little early than that, but without getting much sleep it would prove to be fortunate. Dropping the bag he made his way to the door. "Don't get your panties in a wad and stop your yelling. By the way where's Rukia?"

"You'll have your underwear in a wad if you don't get a move on. Rukia said she had something to do and she said she would meet up with us later. So go take a shower! Ichigo said throwing yet another pillow at him. Doloran moved toward the bathroom thinking about how fun the day would turn out to be.

* * *

DSF – "you want find a direct translation for my Zanpakuto, but it supposed to mean frozen heavens frozen moon dragon god. I changed the way it was supposed to be as I didn't like the way it sounded."


	5. The Start of Training

The Black Flame and the Frozen Wasteland

Summary:

A soul reaper long thought dead turns up in Karakura town the night of the attack on the Kurosaki family. Who is this new Reaper and what does he want, who are his allies and what does his return to mean for them all. A femIchi Fic

DSF stands over his Zanpakuto which are covered in bandages, their blades broken beside them. "I would hope this teaches you a lessen"

Souketsu "I she had just agreed then we wouldn't have had any problem"

Sougetsu "And….

DSF "Enough, I will not have you two destroying my inner world. Apologize or I'll hide your Zanpakuto."

Souketsu an Sougetsu "Sorry."

DSF – "Very little has been changed in this chapter so enjoy."

DSF – "well that was unexpected, since it appears they may take a well to finish I guess in falls to me to do the disclaimer. I do not own Bleach that right and honor belongs to Tite Kubo, I do however own any OC's and changes to the plot."

* * *

Chapter 5: The Start of Training

It hadn't taken Doloran long to take a shower and get dressed. Ichigo seemed to be in a better mood by the time he had walked back into their room. They went down stairs grabbing something to eat and telling everyone in the house that they would be gone for most of the day and that they would be back by dinner and of course they had to deal with Isshin's antics, which weren't too bad until he said how proud of Ichigo he was that she was going to spend the whole day with a guy and how quite a catch she had made. Which had sent her raging and she flung herself at him. During the ensuing battle Isshin had made insinuations that involved both Ichigo and Doloran. Doloran found himself blushing and Ichigo was getting angrier by the second and it taken quite awhile for Ichigo to calm down.

Now they were heading to Kisuke's to start Ichigo's training. Neither spoke much on their way to the shop. Ichigo seemed a little nervous. He figured if he was in her shoes than he would be a little nervous. All in all her abilities at her current stage were pretty good. In the short time she had been a soul reaper she had a good basic grasp of her blade. He needed to teach her technique, but much of that training would come from her Zanpakuto. His main priority was to get her spiritual pressure under control. Until he could do that than teaching her Kidō would have to wait. Teaching her Hohō and Hakuda were on the top of his list.

He could sense that Kisuke was the only one at the shop. He figured the others were out taking care of business for Kisuke or he had asked them to be scarce for the day. He hadn't noticed before, but the shop seemed out of the way and hidden for a candy store. "Well if it isn't Kurosaki-san." Doloran noticed she was quite surprised that Kisuke knew who she was. "My, my, aren't you quite lovely Kurosaki-san. Allow me to introduce myself, Kisuke Urahara at your service." He said with sparkling eyes.

Ichigo still quite confused about how he knew her, now red faced and quite pissed at how he was looking at her. She didn't take that kind of crap from Keigo and certainty wouldn't take it from the man before her. She calmly walked up to Kisuke, his eye getting leerier by the minute, hadn't expected her to elbow him right in the face and then kick him while he was down.

Doloran wasn't surprised in the least. Kisuke never changed and it never ended well for him. He had to admit that she did look quite good in her black skinny jeans and red top, however he knew enough not to say anything. She may take a compliment, but the leering eyes that went along with Kisuke's compliment wasn't something she would let slide and that much he had seen from the way a few of her class mates acted around her, ending up the same as Kisuke had.

"I hadn't expected an elbow to the face for complimenting such a pretty lady." Kisuke said still holding his nose on the ground.

"If you hadn't given me that look I wouldn't have had to." Ichigo said standing over top of him glaring at him with her arms crossed under her chest.

"That's quite enough Ichigo, no need to hurt him any further. I would think you would know better by know Kisuke and pick yourself up off the ground, you look pathetic laying there." Doloran said quite amused over the pout he was getting from Kisuke for running his fun.

"Fine as long as he doesn't say anything perverted and doesn't give me anymore looks I won't beat the crap out of him. What I don't get how he knows me."

"That should be quite obvious, I sent Doloran to you so why wouldn't I know what you look like and besides, whom did you think helped get you back in your body and helped carry you back to your room the night you got your powers." Kisuke said with a smile

Once again Ichigo was red in the face realizing he would have had to touch her to get her back to her body and into her room. That was it the man in the green striped hat had to die. Kisuke was just getting up when her fist connected with his face. Doloran could swear he had heard a cracking sound has her fist landed. He also noticed she had once again instinctively put a little bit of her spiritual energy into her blow. Ichigo wore a smirk satisfied with her handy work. Doloran shuck his head, it seemed Kisuke wasn't going to stop. Thinking on it, it became clear that Kisuke had always been that way. He always seemed to want to push the envelope in everything he did or does. Quite often he would say something he may have not really thought or something that he knew would set someone off just to see how they would react.

"That's quite enough Kisuke; I would like to get some training done with Ichigo today." Doloran said giving both Kisuke and Ichigo looks to stop.

Kisuke once again picked himself up from the ground bringing out his trademark fan and putting in front of his face hiding his eyes. "The two of you are more than welcome to use the training grounds under the shop as long as you need." Kisuke said removing the fan from his face gesturing toward the door to the shop.

"Thank you Urahara-san." Ichigo said making her way toward the shop with Doloran following after her.

Kisuke stopped Doloran as he walked by him. "Doloran did you get it?"

"Yea I got it, I'll destroy it in the next couple of days." Doloran said giving him a reassuring look.

They made their way to the training ground in silence. It seemed Kisuke was done with his antics for the time being. Doloran was quite impressed by the training grounds; it was obviously modeled after the one Kisuke and Yoruichi build in the underground training room in Soul Society. It felt to him like he really was in a disserted rocky place and Kisuke had even painted the sky on the ceiling. It was a place that he believed you could lose yourself in training while losing all sense of time. Looking over toward Ichigo he could tell she was surprised by the shear vastness of the place.

"Wow, who would have thought such a huge place would be under my shop." Kisuke said in a rather sing-song voice.

"A shut it Hat n' Clogs, it's quite obvious you would know what's under your own shop." Ichigo said glaring at the man once again.

Doloran shuck his head at the man in the striped hats antics rather than say anything.

"Well I'll just let you two love birds get on with your training and return if you need anything, so just give me an yell." He said making a quick exit up the latter before Ichigo could hit him again.

"Get back here you damn pervert!" Ichigo roared at the retreating man.

"Don't get so worked up Ichigo, your only doing what he wants. He wants you to react, just ignore him."

"Ya like that's so easy, the man's so damn irritating. He's as bad as my dad."

"His comments involve me as well and you don't see me reacting to his or your dad's comments like you do."

"Well that may be true for Kisuke, but I seen you blush yesterday and this morning to my dad's comments, so you can't tell me that they don't bother you." She said quite smugly.

"I did no such thing, your imagining things and don't try to pin this on me, you're the one over reacting." He had no doubt in his mind that he had indeed blushed on both accounts, but he wasn't about to let her win. He was a guy and it was on principal.

Ichigo walked up to him getting right in his face. She was so close that Doloran could feel her breath, he couldn't help but blush. That had him cursing himself to hell and back. It was damn irritating that she could get him to blush. Sure he could pass off the other two occurrences to Isshin's words, but he knew he would be lying. Ichigo was the true cause, he had known her for all of two days and she was getting under his skin. It wasn't a bad feeling, rather it was something he couldn't place. In his whole life no one had made him feel this way.

At first being around her and had brought up all those memories and thoughts he had pushed away, but only once he had lay in their room had his thoughts truly come back. So he couldn't exactly say it was her fault, rather she was the trigger. The more time he spent with her watching her fight and thinking about training her brought about peace in his mind and soul. He was finding it harder to keep all the truth from her. He hadn't cared about lying to the soul reaper, but lying to Ichigo felt so wrong. He didn't feel compelled to tell her everything, just his true origins. She wasn't ready for the whole truth and if she knew it would only hurt what he was they were trying to do.

So much was in his shoulders again and hers as well. They would be on the front lines, the others would be in the back ground supporting them sure, but they wouldn't be seen and that meant they wouldn't carry the burden they would. Yet it didn't feel to the same as it had in the past. He felt somehow at peace with what was to come. The feeling that he must not fail and the pressure it brought wasn't there. That didn't mean he that he wouldn't fight with everything he had and give it his all; he just felt for the first time in his life that he couldn't fail. He couldn't explain why he felt that way. He just did and he was finding a need to share his insecurities and bad memories with her. It was a need he had never felt before and it left in uneasy.

All these thoughts kept running through his head and his initial irritation over her making him blush was gone. Quite a bit of time had paced while those thought had ran through his head. What he wasn't aware of was she had been watching his eyes during the whole time. Like him she also believed you could tell a lot about what a person was like by looking them in the eye and she also believed you could tell a lot about what a person was thinking. So she had been aware somewhat of the inner turmoil of his thoughts. She had been having some of the same thoughts. She felt an urge as well to tell him about her past.

The past was not a topic she liked to talk about. After her mother's death unlike the rest of her family she had put a tighter rein on her thoughts and emotions and throughout the years it had lead people to think she did care about what happened around her or to others. Her closet friends namely Tatsuki who she grow up with and Orihime who she had come close to after Orihime's brothers death and her friend Chad who was a soft spoken and gentle giant knew the truth. Like Doloran she had always believed in not sharing her inner most thoughts and feelings with others believing it wrong to burden them with more than they themselves had to deal with. That belief had lead to many sleepless nights and many nights of her lying in her bed crying. The dreams of that night had never gone away and it had lead to her seeming cold and detached to most of her classmates. That and her hair color lead her to many a fight of the years.

Isshin was no fool and he had picked up one what she had done. She was much like him when he was teen, but she was more like Doloran than he ever was. She had been much more care free when his wife was alive and it pained him greatly when he saw what change her death had brought about in her. She became closed off and distant from the rest of the family. Doloran had always been the same and in Doloran's case it had only gotten worse in the months after his own mother's death leading up to his departure from Soul Society. He had known him as a child as well and had always seen him as a son. Even then there ages were so far apart. Isshin had met Doloran's father and knew his absence in his life because of his work for soul society made him need somebody in that role. He had never sought to replace his father and that was the reason why he never felt like he could call him son, but that had changed when Doloran had shown up that night on his doorstep he felt he finally could.

He had a feeling that night that not much time had passed for him as it had for the rest of them. Looking at Doloran he saw the same things he had seen in Ichigo, a lost soul that been through so much and felt so compelled to keep it all in. His thoughts had only been confirmed when he had heard the whole story the day before in Kisuke's shop. That information gave him comfort that he was placing his eldest daughter in his guard and friends hands a man he felt he could call as son. Doloran was still so young and very close to his eldest's own age. He knew a bond would grow between them and no matter how close that bond got he would approve. He had no doubt that his wife would have approved of him looking after their daughter and anything that could become of their bond.

Those facts only furthered his want to tease them and fight with his daughter. He always teased and fought with her to do two things. The first was to try and force her feelings toward him, to turn her sorrow and the anger she felt that was so missed placed and wrong toward himself. He would rather her be angry at him than let those feelings consume her. The second was to get her ready for her powers when they awoke, which he had rather have happened latter, but took comfort in Doloran being there to look after her when he felt he himself couldn't.

Ichigo felt a blush come over her, the closeness between them was becoming uncomfortable. If anyone else had been this close to her she would have beat the shit out of them, but of course this was her own doing. She had wanted to get back at him for having the nerve to tell her she was overacting. His calm demeanor was irritating and she wanted to see it crack, but of course her plan had just had to backfire. Her thoughts had wondered once again when she had noticed his eye and she couldn't help but be mesmerized by their color. Golden eyes was such an odd color for one to have, they weren't true gold of course and she couldn't quite but a finger own what the other colors that were mixed in were. The gold wasn't true gold like you would see on a car or in a gold bar, but rather a rusty gold.

She had a great deal of feelings running through her and many of them she just wanted to push away. She was unable to form any words and it had seemed Doloran was in the same boat. Once again he was having the same kind of thoughts and feelings she was having and was having the same reaction. The problem they had both created was unnerving them both and something had to give.

"So let's get started Shaw we." He stated rather than ask in a very shaking voice, not wanting to start and argument again.

That snapped her out of her daze and she was able to speak once again even if rather shakily. "Ya, sure, where do we begin?"

Doloran let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. "Well why don't we take a seat on the ground and well begin. I'll explain some the basics and well go from there." He had managed to say much more steadily than before. Ichigo did as he asked and he followed by taking a seat in front of her.

"So at the academy they teach the four forms of the soul reaper arts. The four arts are Zanjutsu the art of the sword, Hakuda which is hand to hand combat, Hohō or foot work and Kidō or magic as you would call it. I can teach technique, but only your Zanpakuto can teach how to wield it." Doloran looked Ichigo to see if she understood and it was clear to him that there was something she didn't understand. He didn't want to say anything as to insult her, if she wished to say something than he would let her before continuing.

At first she did seem to want to say anything, it seemed to him that she was mulling it over. He thought perhaps she thought he would think less of her, that it was something she was supposed to know. "You said that my Zanpakuto can only teach my how to use it, but how is that possible? Isn't a Zanpakuto just a sword, how is a sword supposed to teach my how to use it?" She said finally. He wasn't surprised that she would ask that. The Zanpakuto and soul reaper had a very deep and personal connection. Rukia didn't know she had her own power so she wouldn't have wanted her to make a bond with Ichigo. Keeping that information from her was rational, but with her own power deep within her just waiting to be awakened if it already wasn't and called upon she need to know it. If she was going to be trained right and if he didn't want to be ripped to pieces Isshin than he would have to give her all the knowledge he could and do things right.

"The Zanpakuto is born from soul or very essence of the soul reaper and has its own soul. The Zanpakuto is alive and is a reflection of the soul. The Zanpakuto is not a tool or simply a weapon; it is extension of your body, soul and mind and is most importantly your partner in battle and life. The bond between you and your Zanpakuto must be built on trust and faith not only in you, but in your Zanpakuto. That bond is to be treasured; it is a bond without words can describe it. I can teach you stances and techniques to use in battle, but your Zanpakuto is the only one who can truly teach of it should be used." Doloran once again paused to see if there was anything she wanted to say.

"Since I have borrowed power does that mean I'll have to learn from Rukia's Zanpakuto?" Ichigo asked shift in her spot on the ground.

"No, because you have power of your own, right now and it's buried deep within your soul. You will have to shed the power you borrowed from Rukia and bring forth your own power, but to do that you'll have to learn quite a few things first. First and for most we have to get your powers under control. Right know you don't have a hold on it, you leak spiritual pressure. Spiritual pressure is the physical manifestation of your spiritual energy in the air. Without control over it you put those around you in danger because hollows can sense it and are attracted to It." she stiffened after he mentioned that she was putting those around her in danger. "Don't worry, I'm masking your energy output right know and will continue to do it, but I can't while I'm not around you."

"So how do I get it under control?" She asked with worry clear in her voice.

"That's what I'm going to teach you today. Ok, so I want you to close your eyes." Ichigo did as he asked and closed her eyes. "Now I want you to remember what the power felt like flowing through you during the battles you've had." Giving her a few minutes to get a feel for it he waited for her to tell him she had it.

"Ok I got it."

"Alright, now want I want you to picture it in your mind."

I took her a while to finally get a hang of it. "Ok, now what"

"What do you see?"

"I see an outline of my body and what looks like energy flowing around me. I also see clusters of it in the air."

"What color is it and how does feel?"

She took her time sense all she could from it and it felt foreign to her. "The energy's bluish-white in color and feels cold. I feel great despair, sorrow and it feels lonely."

"Good" He was quite impressed, she was progressing more quickly than he had expected.

"Doloran, why does fell foreign to me?" Doloran opened his eyes to look at her. He had been following her progress and was seeing how closely she could feel and see what he was seeing. He was surprised she couldn't see him. He expected later down the road when she tapped in to her own vast power, but she couldn't see even at this early stage. He couldn't believe she was already drawing on her on power even though her spiritual body was replenishing the power she borrowed from Rukia. Even thought she had her own power he knew she shouldn't be drawing on her buried power when her body would replenish the power borrowed staying as Rukia's power, that's just how the transfer worked or was supposed to work. Thought it seemed her body craved more power than what it was producing of Rukia's power which was restricted to what her own power levels were. It was absolutely amazing that her body was breaking through the barrier around her dormant power steeling what it wanted without awakening her own power or casting out Rukia's power.

He saw she was very uncomfortable. "That's because what you feel is Rukia's power." He felt Kisuke and Rukia weren't far off. "I'll be right back Ichigo, just stay here and keep exploring." She nodded her head that she understood and he got up moving toward where he could now see Kisuke and Rukia standing.

Approaching the two he could see Kisuke looked pleased, he figured he had been watching her progress in much the same way he had. Rukia had seemed strained and he figured she had been doing the same, but that she was having a hard time with it since her powers weren't back yet. "So how long have you two been standing there?"

It was Rukia who spoke first. "About twenty minutes. I get what your teaching her, but why are you teaching her the hard way."

"I suspect it's because he wants her to learn this way so when her power grows she well have better control over it than if she learned outside of her body. Her power so big that she would be to strained trying to do what he's asking if the buffer her body creates naturally wasn't there." Kisuke replied before Doloran could speak and he was right on the mark.

"That and her power will be too vast when see awakens her own power. She's already breaking that barrier around her own power because your power can't supply what her body craves."

"But how is that possible when she's only human, she shouldn't have her own power."

"That's because she not completely human. I suspect somewhere down the line there is a soul reaper in the family. If soul society knew they would undoubtedly kill them." Rukia expression went from one of surprise to one of horror over what could happen to Ichigo's family if they knew. Doloran didn't like doing it this way, but Isshin secrets had to stay secret. Kisuke looked at Doloran looking to see if he understood the very thin line he was walking.

"So Kuchiki-san you can see why in the future any mention of Kurosaki-san's true status or her families should stay hidden from soul society." Kisuke said while he and Doloran gave her stern looks.

* * *

Ichigo was getting a little impatient, Doloran was taking his time. She wondered what he was doing and even thought about opening her eye's to see where he went. Then an idea struck her, she knew that it was indeed her own spiritual form she had been seeing. So she figured since she couldn't feel or see anything else from her power or rather Rukia's borrowed power she thought she would try and find Doloran. It seemed a simple enough to her, since her own body lit up when she concentrated on her power, than why not Doloran's.

At first she tried looking around her, but all she could see was her own power. Nothing she saw felt or looked different from what she had already seen. Then it hit her, Doloran had said that she was feeling Rukia's power, so did that mean she was seeing nothing else because that was what she was focusing on. If so than that would mean what see felt might be impressions of Rukia's thoughts and feelings. If that was the case than she realized she would have to broaden her senses, but then another thought hit her if she did that than how would she know what she was seeing.

Then she figured she would have to focus what she knew about him or rather what see felt he was. The problem was she felt she really didn't know that much about him. It had only been about a day in half that she knew him. She thought he looked good, but that wasn't really what she thought she needed or wanted to think about. The story he had given was a good one, but she didn't buy it. That's not say she didn't fell there was some truth there, rather not the whole truth. She had no doubt in her mind that he had lost his parents. She knew that pain very well and saw it in his eyes. Of course her reservations about his story should have made her untrusting of him, but she couldn't help but trust him.

She felt he was strong, but not in the sense of breaking something rather he was strong in determination and will. He was smart, she was sure of that from the debate in class. He had brought up good points and even had her rethinking how she felt about the world and the situations of the people in subject they had been covering.

The word kind came to mind. He had been nothing but helpful to both her and Rukia. He was kind to her sisters; he complimented Yuzu's cooking and even gave tips to Karin when she mentioned she played soccer early that morning during breakfast. Then selfless came to mind. He had said soul society would come for Rukia because she had broken a law and he made it clear that he would do everything to get her back once they did and that would also mean he would have to be brave.

With that in mind she looked around her once again and was pleased with what see saw. She saw a humanoid a figure several yards away. The figure radiated in power, power that was so bright in places that it actually hurt. The power was red, black and blue in color. She also thought she saw hues of black and what she could only describe as moon light. She could feel heat in the power and it felt cold at the same time. She felt drawn to it, it was warm and inviting. She could feel strength, determination, loyalty, selflessness, pride, kindness, but what she felt most strongly was sorrow and regret.

The emotions were overwhelming, what happened to him to make him have all these good quality's and yet fell such bad emotions. She didn't believe the loss of parents could make you feel that bad. She had lost her mother and yet didn't fell such deep sorrow and regret. She had a new found respect for him to be able to walk around and function with such strong emotion running through him. To have that kind of resolve resonated with her.

But that wasn't all she felt, there next to him she felt the same emotion she had felt around her and realized it had to be Rukia. She got up keeping her eyes closed and made her way toward him.

* * *

Some time had passed since Doloran had walked over to Kisuke and Rukia. They had been talking about Ichigo's training after he stated Ichigo's true nature. Doloran had been keeping close watch on her. He was quite surprised when he felt her senses expand, it wasn't something he thought she would be able to do at this point or even try. Yet she had been able to do it and what surprised him even more was her senses raping around him and start exploring him. He couldn't believe it. He had loosened his hold on his power earlier to see if she would be able to feel him, But she shouldn't have been able to do it to the extent she was.

Kisuke seemed oblivious to what she was doing. It hadn't surprised him; he had never been able to feel his presence when he hadn't wanted him to. He was sure that he could feel what power he had let lose, but not what power Ichigo senses were touching. Rukia was just as oblivious. He couldn't fathom how she was doing it. Soul reaper's hundreds of years older than him couldn't get this deep into his power without him allowing them. His mother and grandfather had always been an exception to this rule and Isshin as well. His mother and grandfather had been no surprise and he always attested Isshin ability to sense him to their close relationship. After all Isshin had been the only person he was as close to in soul society as his mother and grandfather. Kisuke and Yoruichi, even Jūshirō, Shunsui and Retsu had been his friends, but Isshin had been something more. Was it really possible that she had got that close to him in only a day and a half?

"What is Ichigo doing?" Rukia's voice rang out in his head. Kisuke attention was now on Ichigo as well.

"I have no idea Kuchiki-san. What about you Doloran." His comment and question didn't reach Doloran. His full attention was back on Ichigo's approaching form. Both Kisuke and Rukia turned toward him when he didn't answer.

He could see her clearly now and she was crying. The sight of it hit him hard; the pain on her faced was overwhelming. Kisuke and Rukia said nothing when they saw her. Rukia's expression was one of confusion; she couldn't understand why she was crying or why her eyes were closed. Kisuke on the other hand had pieced together what was going on. He knew both their histories very well and that coupled with what he knew Doloran had been getting her to do had brought him to only one possible conclusion. Like Doloran he couldn't figure out how she did it.

She was now in front of him and he could see the tear stains on her face tears still running down her face. "How can you deal with all those emotions and still function? What has happened to you for them to be so fierce? Tell me Doloran, it pains me to feel them yet I can't open my eyes and shut them out." She said shakily.

"Doloran what is she talking about?" Rukia asked. Doloran was unable to speak and Kisuke realized it.

"Kurosaki-san as managed to do what no soul reaper has ever done beside's Doloran's mother and a two others, she has sensed Doloran's spiritual energy and delved deep enough to get a glimpse of his past through his emotions and thoughts embedded in his energy. She should not be able to do it at this stage and what's more she has done something I myself cannot." Kisuke replied to her low enough so Ichigo wouldn't hear already aware of how much Doloran had told her the night before when she confronted him.

Doloran didn't move when she grabbed hold of his robes laying her head on his chest still crying. "Ichigo it is not something I like to talk about nor do I want to burden you with what has happened to make me feel those emotions so strongly. Know that it is not because I don't trust you. I do not wish to cause you any more pain. I function because I must and those around me need me. So please open your eyes, you have done enough today and you have done well." Doloran said sincerely in a very shaky voice. He had not intended to cause her pain, had he known she could look this deeply into himself than he would have kept a tighter hold on his power. It was not a mistake he would make again and he couldn't bring himself to tell her she was the reason he could deal.

Ichigo opened her eyes; his voice had snapped the hold his emotions had on her. She looked into his eyes and could see they held regret in them. It pained her to know that regret was because she had been so willing to delve that deep in his energy. She wasn't stupid; she could tell he kept those feelings well hidden. She knew she shouldn't have delved that deep, but she couldn't help herself and what's more she trampled on his thoughts and feelings. She had gone were she had no right to go and yet she couldn't hate that she had. Sure she felt sorry for making him feel bad. She had learned that he wasn't that different from her, that he hid just as many demons as she did if not more.

She had saw his past and now knew he wasn't human and it didn't make her distrust him. She felt he had good reason to hide his past form her. She could help but feel as if something or someone wanted her to see his past. It was like a strong hand had guided her through them. She understood him and wanted to know more, but yet she couldn't bring herself to ask him more about it or even tell him that she had seen his past. She was content to wait and let him feel like he could share those memories. She herself had things in her past that she didn't want to share, but she knew he could be the one person that she could share them with and not feel bad about it.

"I understand and I'll listen if you ever want to talk about it. I have my own bad memories, though not as strong as yours make me feel." She let go of him but kept eye contact not wanting look away.

"Thank you Ichigo, someday maybe I can." He said not looking away from her either.

"Perhaps you should call it a day, it's getting late and I'm sure you don't want to be late for dinner." Kisuke said placing a hand on both their shoulders grabbing their attention away from each other.

"Ya your right Kisuke, let's head home guy's" Doloran said making his way to leave. Ichigo followed after him saying their goodbyes to Kisuke.

The walk home was a silent one. Once there they found Yuzu was almost done with dinner and took their places at the table. They had planned to eat up stairs, but Rukia had said she eat at Kisuke's and wasn't hungry. The dinner was a quite one. Isshin and the twins could tell something was bothering Ichigo and Doloran and that they didn't want to talk so they left them alone. After dinner they all went their separate ways.

Doloran found himself on the steps to the front door thinking about what had happened. He heard the door open and turned to see it was Isshin. The man wore concern on his face and took a seat next Doloran. He wasn't surprised the man had come to talk to him. He never could hide something from the man when it was truly bothering him. He really didn't feel like talking, but knew the man wouldn't leave him alone.

"Doloran what's wrong? I haven't seen you this distracted in awhile and your spiritual pressure hasn't stopped fluctuating since you got home." The man said placing a firm hand on his shoulder.

"I taught Ichigo how to sense her energy today. During the lesson Kisuke and Rukia came down. I went over and talked to them and told Ichigo to keep exploring, but that's where everything went wrong." He paused at this not really wanting to continue. Isshin had caught his gaze and saw the regret and pain in his eyes and he wasn't about to push him to tell what he believed the young man needed to.

"She figured out how to expand her senses, something I thought she couldn't and wouldn't be able to do at this stage. Not only did she do it, she also locked on to my energy signature and delved deep enough to see the characteristics of my power and the emotions embedded within it." Doloran said very shakily pausing once again. Isshin remand silent.

Taking a deep breath he continued. "The force of my emotions made her cry Isshin. I made her cry. I didn't want to cause anymore pain. She asked me why I was this way and I can't tell her even though I want to. What if she saw my memories Isshin, what if she saw you? I don't know what to do. She asked me to tell her how I function and I couldn't bring myself to tell her she's the reason. It's getting hard to lie to her and I don't understand why." He hated himself right now. He couldn't hide it from Isshin and what's more he felt he failed the man once again. He failed Ichigo and it stung.

"Doloran it can't be helped, if she saw something I doubt her believes would allow her to tell you or me. I hope that she didn't see me in your past; I would like to keep it from her as long as I can. She isn't ready and that information can only hurt her with what's to come. The fact she was able to see into your power so deeply means she needs your guidance even more now. You both are still so young and I hope you two can make each other's bad memories easier to handle. If you can't lie to her than tell her about your past, just keep me out of it. She doesn't have to know of my involvement to know why you are the way you are. You haven't failed us Doloran and remember that well." Isshin said leaving him to his thought returning to the house.


	6. In Loving Memory

The Black Flame and the Frozen Wasteland

Summary:

A soul reaper long thought dead turns up in Karakura town the night of the attack on the Kurosaki family. Who is this new Reaper and what does he want, who are his allies and what does his return to mean for them all. A femIchi Fic

DSF – "I do not at this time or in the future plan to have Kon as a Character."

Sougetsu and Souketsu –"DSF does not own Bleach that right and honor belongs to Tite Kubo, he does however own any OC's and changes to the plot."

I listened to Alter bridges in loving memory while writing this

* * *

Chapter 6: In Loving Memory

The last couple of weeks had been quite eventful. Doloran had continued Ichigo's training on Sunday. He taught her the basics of Hohō and found she was quite good at. The training had gone so well that Doloran decided they had time for something else. Doloran didn't dare have her try sensing her surroundings after what had happened the day before. So he decided to see how well she could do in Hakuda. She was quite strong in it and was able to perform any move he asked her do.

At dinner that night the atmosphere was a lot lighter. Rukia had eaten once again at Kisuke's and as per the day before none of the other shop's inhabitance weren't there. After dinner Ichigo and Doloran went to do their home work with Rukia they had put off do to Ichigo's training. It didn't take long for them to do their home work and they headed to bed.

The next day at school Ichigo introduced Doloran to her friends and as she thought they took to him and welcomed him into their group. They all seemed nice and he thought Ichigo had made good friends. Not everything had gone as they had hoped. A leader of one of the school's gangs had shown up demanding to know why Ichigo kept dyeing her hair to match his own. She stated the fact that she hadn't dyed her hair that it was natural. He called her a liar and lunched himself at Ichigo. Doloran was about to defended her when a giant of a man lunched himself at the gang leader.

He made short work of the man sending on his way vowing to get revenge. Doloran quickly noticed the man was fairly beat up and had a bird with him. A bird with the spirit of a boy within it and Ichigo had noticed it to. Both Doloran and Rukia reached Ichigo that the spirit wasn't dangerous, but they would have to perform konso on the spirit.

The man Doloran learned was a close friend by the name of Sado Yasutora. Ichigo said he went by Chad. Chad explained that he had a steel beam hit him the night before and a motorcycle had hit him on his way to school and he carried the man to the hospital. Those events made Doloran uneasy, he knew there was something more to the bird.

The rest of the day was uneventful and the made there way home. They hadn't been home long before an accident had sent several people to the clinic. Ichigo and Doloran sprung into action helping Isshin and the twins with the patients. Doloran knew a great deal when it came to injuries and treating them and put that knowledge to use helping the injured as best he could. They did as much as they could for the worst cases and sent them to Karakura general hospital. They were sending there last case out the door when Chad stumbled in. Doloran quickly grabbed before he fell and walked him over to the observation table sitting him on it. The wound on his back reeked of a hollow attack. Isshin cleaned and wrapped his wound and Doloran carried him to a room.

Doloran grabbed Ichigo and Rukia after Karin had collapsed from vision of the Spirit in the bird the night he died. The search for the hollow didn't take long. Doloran had brought the bird and as he had expected it the hollow was using it as bait. Ichigo had made quick work of the hollow slaying it. The gates of hell appeared and took the hollow for his crimes as a human.

Rukia explained to Ichigo that while the Zanpakuto can cleanse the sins of a hollow it cannot cleanse the sins a hollow committed as a human. Ichigo preformed konso on the spirit and they headed home. Then next two days they went to school and took out two more hollows and continued Ichigo's training for a few hours after school. Doloran had managed to destroy the object bring some comfort to Kisuke and his shop's inhabitants, Isshin was happy to know it was gone and Doloran was relieved as well. They fell into a routine the next couple of weeks training take out hollows, going to school and spending time together. Doloran was becoming very close with the family and the twins had started seeing him as a brother. Doloran and Ichigo had even created a bond even if neither seemed to be talking to each other much.

* * *

Doloran lay on his mat troubled by the way Ichigo had been acting all day. She hadn't spoken one word to anyone all day. Isshin wouldn't tell him why when he asked him about it and neither would the twins. What was troubling him the most was Ichigo muffled sobs. It was killing him listening to it. He had hoped see would tell him what was wrong, but every since that Saturday she hadn't been talking to him as much. He had tried to talk with his Zanpakuto, but they refused to speak with him.

He just couldn't take her silence anymore. So he got up and went to Ichigo's bed seating on the edge. She kept still, not acknowledging his presence. "Ichigo I want you to listen to me very carefully. I don't know what's wrong, but I want to. I don't like seeing you like this. Please tell me so I can help." Doloran said softly, but loud enough for her to hear.

She didn't want to talk to him, but found she felt an urge to tell him what was wrong. He'd been nothing but nice since he began living with her and her family. He never pushed her into anything she didn't want to do. He never once complained or laughed at her if she didn't understand something during training and she had repaid him by barley talking to him since that Saturday. She felt bad about it, but it was hard to talk to him when she knew all that pain and suffering was welled up inside of him.

All the things she had seen from his memories would have made someone else afraid of him. She took comfort in knowing that even thought his pain was stronger there was someone else who felt the same way she did. She realized she was fool seeing all those things then shutting him out. He was a great friend and she couldn't imagine life without him now. He had become a part of her life as Rukia had as well. She knew once everything with Soul Society was cleared up Rukia would have to leave, but she also knew he wouldn't leave and nothing could force him to. That gave him the right to know.

"Doloran just promise me you won't leave when everything with Soul Society is done." She said in a very soft Horace voice. She may know he wouldn't leave, but that didn't mean she didn't need to hear it. She got up from her position facing the window and sat beside him the edge of the bed.

He could see her clearly now, her face tear stained and her eyes were puffy. She looked like hell and yet somehow just hearing her voice eased his heart a little bit. Her question had confused him though. He didn't understand why she thought he would leave after they returned from Soul Society. It made him wonder if she really had seen his memories that day and thought he would stay there. About a week ago she had caught him talking to Kisuke and found out there was a threat in Soul Society. He still couldn't believe that either Kisuke or he hadn't sensed her standing just outside the doorway. She had got so good at hiding herself that they all had a hard time finding her, thought he had an easier time than the others. He had made her promise that she wouldn't tell Rukia that she would be more in danger if she did. "Ichigo I don't have any intention of staying there. There's nothing there for me. My place is with this family, a family I've learned to call my own. I'll stay no matter what happens." He said placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Ichigo placed both her hands on Doloran's and looked in to his eyes seeing them burn with concern. "Tomorrow is the day my Okaa-san was killed. This is the first time I have talked on this day since her death. We were walking home from the dojo, I had just finished a match with Tatsuki and lost. On our way home I saw a girl by the side of the river and thought she was going to fall in, so I ran after her to try and save her. I blanked out and when I…. And when I awoke I saw…. I saw my Okaa-san on top of me….. And she was dead… And it's all my fault… I wasn't strong enough... Strong enough to protect her." Chocking the last part out, she fell against Doloran chest crying violently.

Doloran placed his arms around her pulling her closer to him. He had known her Okaa-san had passed away, but not so violently. He had asked Isshin what had happened, but he had told him it wasn't his story to tell. He had known she had passed away when he was in that other dimension, he had felt Isshin's pain through their connection and because of being stuck there in the first place he had felt it was his fault because he hadn't been there to protect his friends family. He saw now that she blamed herself for her Okaa-san's death and thought she had no right to. "Ichigo it isn't your fault, you were just a child then and had no control over what happened. I may have not know her, but I doubt she would want you to blame yourself for her death and I don't want you to either. Always remember that no matter who we lose in this world they always remain in are heart as long as we honor them and remember what they were to us."

Ichigo felt a little bit better hearing him say that. He was right even if she hated to admit it. Her Okaa-san wouldn't want her to hold on to all the pain and guilt she had over the years. He made the rain stop. Her heart felt lighter. She knew he could tell him anything and he wouldn't judge her and she could do it without any regret. He knew her pain and she knew his even if not fully. Ever since he had come into her life her world looked brighter and she didn't feel like just doing enough to get through the day. He was good friend and yet he felt more to her than that even if she didn't fully understand what he was to her. "Thank you Doloran, but I still can't let go of all of my guilt. If only I hadn't gone after that girl she may have been still alive. One thing I never understood was the girl wasn't there when I awoke and the policemen that were there after I awoke said they never saw her." She said looking once again in Doloran's eyes.

It was a relief to him that she had stopped crying and he could tell without her saying it that she felt better. The girl see saw that night got Doloran wondering if her Okaa-san had been killed by a hollow. Perhaps it was just his training as a soul reaper making think of it as a possibility or perhaps he just wanted something to blame her Okaa-san's death on so she wouldn't feel so much guilt. Either way he had no proof and he wouldn't voice his thoughts without it. "It only right that I tell you about my past since you told me what was bothering you when it was something so hurtful and painful."

"You don't have to. I told you what was wrong because I wanted to and I feel like you were the only person I could." She wanted to hear what he had to say, but not if he didn't really want to share it and didn't want him to tell her if he felt obligated to.

"No it's alright. I want you to know, there are some things I can't tell you about for I've been asked not to. I don't talk about it because I've never felt I could or should share what has happened to me, but I feel I should tell you. I have never really talked about my problems with others because I haven't wanted to burden them with more than they already had on their own to deal with." Doloran said removing his arms from around her, seeing she had calmed down.

Ichigo frowned. "Doloran could you hold me a little while longer if you don't mind." Ichigo asked. His spiritual energy was much calmer now and she didn't want to leave it or his warmth.

Her question surprised him. She never let anyone touch her unless it was her sister's, her dad, Tatsuki or Orihime. "I never mind were your concerned Ichigo. I'll hold you as long as you need or want me to." He said once again raping his arms around her. He didn't want to tell her, but he quite enjoyed holding her like this.

"Thank you Doloran."

"The first thing you have to know is I wasn't completely honest with you and know that I did it to protect you and Rukia. I not human Ichigo, I am a soul reaper." He watched her reaction to his admission and wasn't surprised in the least when she didn't even flinch. It was one more thing telling him she had seen his past. Sure that she wasn't going to say anything he continued. "I was born to two of the highest noble families in Soul Society, the Yamamoto's and Darkblaze's. At the time the soul reaper academy had just been created. Jūshirō Ukitake, Shunsui Kyoraku, Retsu Unohana and I trained directly under my Sofu. We were the best of friends and Retsu became a sister to us, even Ju, shu and I had become like brothers. We were the first out of the academy and my Sofu's prized students. Ju, shu and Ret went on to become captains while I lead an elite squad that only answered to him. Central Forty-Six had no say in what we did because the king of Soul Society ordered them to leaves us alone and they weren't happy about. So they recommended us for the most dangerous missions." He paused once again to see if she wanted to ask anything.

"Since they only recommended the mission's there was nothing we could do and we knew they were trying to get us killed. Their plan worked to an extent and we lost most of the soul reapers who were ever in the squad. I saw so many things I wish in never had. The fact I was so young didn't help." Talking about that part of his life was brought all the horrible things he had saw to the surface.

"How old were you Doloran, I know you said you were close to my age, but I don't see how that's possible when Rukia said her captain was several hundred years old at least." She asked laying her head on his shoulder.

"I was thirteen when I took lead of that squad. As to how old I am and how close to your age I am you'll find out when I'm done with my story. On my Fifteenth birthday Central Forty-Six had its agent's attack my Okaa-san's family. Every one of them was killed. I couldn't save even one of them. My father and I slaughtered every last one of their agents and because of the blind rage we went into we were unable to prove their involvement in my Okaa-san's and her family's deaths." His voice almost failed him. The memories of that night once again fresh in his mind, he had failed his Okaa-san and he would never forgive himself for that failure.

Ichigo tensed when he told her about his Okaa-san. She had seen that night when she had saw his memories and it was by far the most painful; however she hadn't know who she was. She felt she had to tell him now that she had seen his memories; she didn't want him to carry that burden alone anymore. "Doloran I'm so sorry you had to experience that. I have a confession to make, I saw some of your memories that day and that night was one of them. I wanted to say something sooner, but I felt I had no right to see them. I went somewhere I shouldn't have and didn't know if they were real and I didn't know how to ask without hurting you more. That's why I haven't been talking to you, I'm sorry and just don't be made at me." She said crying once again, ashamed of she had acted and for keeping it from him.

"I'm not mad and I expected you might have seen something from my past. I would have told you sooner, but I didn't want to cause you any more pain than I already knew you were feeling. The pain I had pushed deep inside me came back that night I came back and it was pretty strong that day. I understand your reasons; I just wish you had said something sooner and you have nothing to be sorry about." He didn't want her to feel guilt when she wasn't guilty of anything.

She had stopped crying once again and composed herself. "You don't have to continue

if you don't want. I know it can't be easy for." She said looking in his eye's once again.

"No it's alright. I want to tell you the rest and I want to answer your question. I lost touch with my father after Mom's death, not that we were really close to begin with. I threw myself into my work and became an even bigger thorn in Central Forty-Six's side. I closed myself off from almost everybody, even my closest friends and talked to no one. I had been closed off even more than I ever had before and even refused to talk to my Zanpakuto. I was on a short fuse and Central Forty-Six was only fueling it. I hadn't known at the time that Sofu had put forth a standing order to stay clear of me. I also hadn't known at the time that Central Forty-Six had sent my father on a mission several days before Mom's death and that had changed something in him and I never found out what it was that changed him" Doloran paused once more shifty a bit farther back on Ichigo's bed and she did the same still clinging to him.

"The last months I spent in Soul Society were the lowest and most painful time of my life. My father was sent on mission after mission by Central Forty-Six, each time coming back more and more different and each time with no men. Sofu pleaded at first and then demanded for him to be taken of the mission roster. When they finally caved it sealed his fate and mine. The day of my departure from Soul Society started normally. Ju, Shu, Ret and I were sparing. They were the only one people I still spoke with other than one other who I can't name. Around lunch time reports were coming in about attacks all over the place so we went to investigate." The memories of the day were coming back to him and looking back it was by far the hardest battle he ever fought. He hadn't really wanted to tell this part at first, but Ichigo was easing his doubts and giving him the strength to tell the tale, a tale that he wouldn't even tell Isshin and Kisuke. Upon his return he had told Isshin and Kisuke what they hadn't know about what had went on leaving it out much of the detail being to pain for him talk about.

She was starting to notice a change in his energy, the pain and sorrow were weakening and it felt much lighter and warmer than before. She was even feeling better herself. Once again she was wondering just what he was to her and how he was able to make her feel so much better where no one else could. He was a light in her life, something she needed and welcomed with open arms. "What happened next Doloran?" She said shifting her head from his shoulder to his chest.

"After searching for about an hour we came across my father. He attacked us immediately saying he was going to wipe out us all. It didn't take long for us to realize he wasn't in his right mind and had got a lot stronger. It was taking everything we had to keep him at bay. Sofu showed up with the rest of the captains and we all gave him everything we had. It seemed like hours that we fought. It was nearing night time and the only ones of us that were still alive were Sofu, Shu, Ju, Ret and I. Ju and shu were out of energy which left only Gramps and I left to fight. I tried talking to him to stop him from going in further and causing more loss of life and his response was unleash is power at high enough level to ripe a hole in dimensional space."

"How is that possible I know a little about quantum physics and I don't see how he would have been able to summon enough power to break or crack the barrier? I would think from what you have told me it would take like hundred soul reapers in bankai to have that kind of power."

"The figures about right and my father's power level had risen to level even higher than that. Before I knew it he got a hold of me and lunched us threw the portal. I've never been sure, but I think I got to him even if just a little and that why he took us through the portal. Once on the other side we continued the battle. I was losing the last of my energy and felt I had only one option left." The next part of his story was perhaps one deed that he didn't feel guilt for, it was perhaps the one dead he was at peace with.

"What did you do?" She could tell he was having a much easier time telling his story now and it didn't seem as if it was weighting him done anymore. She felt childish for feeling the way she had over her own problems when he had so much on his shoulder at such a young age.

"I used an ancient power my Okaa-san's family created. It was a gamble, I would either win or lose and lose my life and if I didn't lose my life I would lose my power. I found it was my only option and used it. I hit him with every last ounce of energy I had left. He took the full force of it and when the smoke cleared he lay dying. In his last moments the insanity his mind had gone to led him to believe he was going to live. He used the last of his strength to seal my Zanpakuto from use and put me in a time bubble." He said shifty himself once more.

"What the hell is a time bubble and if he had that much strength than how did that ancient power of yours work."

"The power I used was far more powerful than the whole Gotei thirteen Captain's and Vice Captain's strength together and before you ask I just can't use it. The power I used and the other power's my Okaa-san taught me are very dangerous. It takes years to learn them and master them to a point that your life isn't threatened. You can think of a time bubble as a section of space time that has been captured and controlled. The time inside the bubble can then be manipulated by speeding it up or down. In my case it was speed down and time slowed so much that seconds became months. I slept for a great deal of time, but very little at all actually past for me. From what I was able to learn from my Zanpakuto only a few months had passed for me. I awoke after whatever energy that was left maintaining the bubble failed and could no longer hold me. I found human life in that place, but stayed clear of them because of the strong emotions I was feeling. I was alone with very limited contact with my Zanpakuto so I locked away all my emotions and pain and concentrated on getting back my powers and training the powers my Okaa-san taught me. I was there for four years" It was a relief to tell the full story. It lifted a huge weight off him and he felt refreshed. "So to answer your question I'm roughly nineteen or a will be when in December."

Ichigo wasn't sure what she should say. His story made her own problems seem so small and insignificant. She wondered if she would have been able to deal with all that he had if she had been in his situation. "My own problems seem so small compared to yours and I'm sorry you had to deal with so much.

"Don't ever feel like your problems are small or insignificant, there just as important and

you don't need to feel sorry I feel like I've finally made peace with my demons. You should get some sleep you have a long day tomorrow." He said moving to get up.

Ichigo took hold of his arm stopping him she didn't want him to leave. "Doloran would you stay here tonight and I want you to come with us tomorrow."

"Ok Ichigo, I'll stay and if you want me to go with tomorrow I will." He shifted himself toward the widow and Ichigo lay next to him leaning against him. He crabbed the covers putting his arm around her and covering them. They both drifted off to sleep easily for once.

* * *

Ichigo was freaking out, there was no way this was a dream it was way to vivid. She was in cabin, a very elegant and beautiful cabin. Before her sat a woman in an elegant blue formal kimono with blue eyes and blue hair. A blue dragon lay curled up around the chair the woman sat in. The woman was smiling warmly at her and the dragon's gaze was set on her.

_"Welcome young lady, it's nice to finally meet you."_ The woman said.

"_I welcome you as well young lady_." The dragon said, unnerving her quite a bit.

"Who are you and where am I?"

"_You should know who we are young lady, you know our wielder very well_." The woman spoke once again.

"_As to where we are, that should be quite obvious_." The dragon said.

She was officially way beyond freaked out. Doloran said it was near impossible to ever visit someone else's inner world and yet here she was. There had to be some kind of explanation. She didn't want to believe she could be actually talking to his inner spirits. Sure she wanted to know everything she could about him, but this was going way beyond what she had expected. It didn't help that she knew she was lying in bed with him and they most likely new and that creped her out. What the hell was he doing with female Zanpakuto; he said that the Zanpakuto almost always took the same gender as their wielder. What the hell made him so different? "So you're Doloran's Zanpakuto?"

"_Yes we are, but were only two."_ The woman replied.

"_There are two others, but they have yet to reawaken_." The dragon replied as well.

The dragon speaking was really freaking her out. "What do you mean there are two others?"

"_When a soul reaper is especially exceptional and possess the potential that are wielder has then there is a chance that there soul will create more than one Zanpakuto to handle the potential of the soul reaper_." The woman said

"_Our wielder soul created two sets of twin Zanpakuto. We are the second twin Zanpakuto, but unlike most twin Zanpakuto we are separate rather than the same soul with two body's. So there four spirit's rather than two_." The dragon said continuing were its twin left off.

"So what are your names?"

"_I am Souketsu Kyuuten, but you may call me Souketsu_." The woman said.

"_I am Sougestu Ryuujin, but you may call me Sougetsu_. Together we are Souketsu Kyuuten Sougetsu Ryuujin."

"My name is Kurosaki Ichigo and its nice to meet you, even if it is a bit unnerving. So why am I here and how is it you that I am able to talk to you, from what I've been told it should be near impossible."

The two Zanpakuto were surprised by how well she was taking this, most soul reaper would have had a nervous break down seeing someone else's inner world and Zanpakuto. She was definitely freaking out, but she was keeping her composer. They knew her very well and knew who see was. She was good for him and he her, even if neither of them were really aware of the growing bond between them. The knew there was something there of course, but both were to young and to naive to see it for what it was. Both were sure if the other two were here they would most definitely tease her about the position they were both in.

"_We are aware of who you are. We know and see all are wielder does unless he actively blocks us._" Souketsu said giving her a knowing smile. She had thought about out right saying it, but figured the smile would do the trick.

"_You are here because you are connected to Doloran and your own soul seeks answers and you are able to come here because of the connection as well_." Sougetsu said.

Ok this was really creeping her out. How in the nine hells could she be connected to him. He was nice guy and all, but this was getting downright weird. "So does that mean you know my Zanpakuto? I haven't heard it yet, but Doloran said Rukia's power is already gone from my body completely. Wait a minute does that mean you know what position Doloran and I are in?" She really hoped they didn't know about their position.

"_Yes young lady we do know what position you are in, does it bother you, are you having second thoughts? You did ask him to hold you_." Sougetsu asked laughing when she saw the young lady's cheeks turn red.

She saw she wasn't going to say anything so Souketsu proceeded to answer her other question. "_Yes we know your Zanpakuto young lady, but if you are seeking a way to contact it through us or are trying to find out how to awaked your Zanpakuto from us then you won't find they answer from us, you must find those answers yourself." _The redness in her cheeks was gone know replaced by a look of disappointment.

_"Do not fret young lady you will find your answers in time, just keep an open mind and heart. Trust in yourself and those around you_." Sougetsu said.

"Why do you call me young lady, Souketsu and Sougetsu?"

"_That is not something we can answer. You must go know young lady and remember what we talked about. Do not tell Doloran about are meeting young lady._" Souketsu said. Ichigo vision faded into sleep once again before she could say anything more.

"_I think she will do fine and do you think she will tell him_." Sougetsu asked.

"_As do I and I think it will be quite some time before she shares this with him_." Souketsu replied.

* * *

Sofu – Grandfather

Okaa-san - Mother


	7. June 17 A Day to Forget and Remember

The Black Flame and the Frozen Wasteland

Summary:

A soul reaper long thought dead turns up in Karakura town the night of the attack on the Kurosaki family. Who is this new Reaper and what does he want, who are his allies and what does his return to mean for them all. A femIchi Fic

DSF – "Next to nothing has changed in this chapter, so enjoy."

Sougetsu and Souketsu –"DSF does not own Bleach that right and honor belongs to Tite Kubo, he does however own any OC's and changes to the plot."

* * *

Chapter 7: June 17 A Day to Forget and Remember

Doloran lay silently on the bed not moving or making a sound. Sometime during the night he had rolled onto his back, but that wasn't the problem at the moment. The problem was the orange headed woman laying arcos his chest who had seen fit to lay her head there. He was afraid to move even inch, not sure how much she remembered from the night before or if she would beat the living shit out of him for caving like he did.

He had to admit it felt nice lying next to her, not that he would ever tell her that. That little piece of information would be sure to grant him a one way ticket to an early death. She was a great comfort to his aching heart. All he had gone through was worth it just having the opportunity to know her. She looked peaceful in her sleep, something he rarely saw out of her when she was awake. He could hear her heart beat in rhythm with his own. The way her hair fell arcos her face even added to the picture of peace she seemed to be in. She was the most frustrating women he had ever been around and yet she didn't get on his nerves near as bad he led her to believe. She even knew his pain and understood him. She was one of the most caring people he had ever known.

In reality it wasn't really his fear of what she might do to him if woke her rather he wanted her to have has much peace as she could before the families day began knowing it wasn't going to be easy for any of them, but especially her. He had no doubt his talk with her the night before had helped her, even he felt better, but he also knew better than anyone that kind of pain doesn't go away easily or completely. After the events of the night before he now felt for her more than he had up until that point and would do everything in his power to never let her feel that kind of pain again.

He was no fool, he was aware of their changing relationship and he was content to let her decide where they take their growing relationship; he would not push her into anything. He knew what it could become and knew that once Soul Society knew of their true identities it would be hard to deal with their interference. Interference that he would fight against with everything he had. The noble's couldn't help but medal in others affairs and he also knew they would try to control her and him. He would be damned if he let them anywhere near them. He wouldn't let them screw up the one thing he was content to let himself have. She had made her way into his most guarded emotions and thoughts, something he thought no one would ever do. He didn't have to explain himself to her. She didn't second guess him. She had trusted him from the start and that trust hadn't wavered. She didn't run when she learned of his past, she let him tell what he wanted and didn't pressure him tell anything he didn't.

The fact was she made him feel more at peace than he had ever felt in his life and it wasn't just her that made that peace possible. Isshin and the twins had opened there arms to him and he would never be able to repay them for that. He was a part of a family again and had no regrets about it. Isshin refused to call him Doloran anymore and would only call him son, unless he was really serious about something. The twins called him brother and it warmed his heart, a heart that had seemed so cold for so long. He was happy, perhaps happier than he had ever been and he would protect that happiness with everything he had. They had all given him new purpose in his life, it was no longer about his oath or his duty and it never could again. He had thought when he returned Isshin would turn him away, but Isshin hadn't and he didn't blame him for not being there. Rukia was even becoming something of a sister to him.

Ichigo was starting to stir. She didn't open her eyes right away, her talk with Doloran's Zanpakuto still in her mind. The whole experience was unnerving and she wasn't sure what to make of it. She wasn't sure what to do about it either, she wanted to keep it from him as long as she could unsure what he might say or do. From what she had learned from not just Doloran, but from Hat n' Clog's as well it was almost impossible to go to someone else's inner world or talk to their Zanpakuto. She knew they had become close friends, but couldn't see how that alone was enough for her to be close enough to him to do what she had. She needed to talk to someone about it, but wasn't comfortable enough with Hat n' Clogs or Rukia and Doloran was out of question. She would just have to forget about it for now and focus on other problems.

She wasn't sure whether to move her not. She wasn't sure whether or not Doloran was still asleep and she was so comfortable. She thought at first she would regret asking for his comfort the night before. He had cracked the barrier around all her emotions getting her to speak on a day she hadn't spoken on for years and she felt like she would speak today. The pain she had felt was now lessened by his kindness and caring. She still felt the day would be long, but much more bearable than before. She didn't know what she would do if the twins or her father caught them in this position. She doubted they would since they usually left her alone until it was time to leave.

She truly wanted the peace she felt at the moment to last, but knew it wouldn't. She felt him move slightly and knew he must be awake. She figured he was doing it for her and she appreciated it. "You don't have to stay still on my account." She said shifting a bit laying her head on his shoulder rather than his chest.

He was surprised she didn't threaten him to get out of her bed or die. He wasn't sure if she was still out of it or if she never had been. "Now why would I risk my life by moving and waking you up strawberry?"

"You keep calling me strawberry red and you may lose your life anyway. I'm comfortable, so if you move I'll kill you." He hated the nickname, but he guessed it was his own fault. After a couple of weeks calling her strawberry, she decided to get back at him by calling him red. Hat n' Clogs laughed his ass off when he heard her call him it until Doloran beat the living piss out of him. He was happy to say that he had solved an age old question concerning Kisuke, without a doubt the man could scream like a little girl.

"Certainly mistress, what will you have me do next?" He said giving her a smirk.

She immediately punched him in the gut with a reiatsu infused punch. Doloran felt the pain instantly and held is one free hand to his gut. "Call me mistress one more time and I'll break every bone in your body."

"You didn't have to be so hard and you seriously need to learn how to take a joke."

"The only joke around here is you."

"If I'm the joke does that make you butt end of the Joke." That was the last straw, she got up from her perch on his shoulder lunched herself on top of him hitting him with everything she had. "You take that back or you'll be sorry"

He managed to grab hold of both her wrists pulling her mere inches from his face. "Or you'll do what mistress?"

She was about to say something else to him when they both heard the door open and a camera flash. They both turned their heads to see Isshin standing in the door way holding a camera with a smile. "There's my to favorite love birds giving each other early morning Kiss's." Needless to say they threw themselves at Isshin giving him the beating of a century and they found Kisuke wasn't the only one who screamed like a little girl. They got the camera destroying it and got ready for the day. Neither of them knew Rukia had been up and had heard the conversation and misunderstood what was going on.

* * *

The walk to the cemetery was a quite one. Ichigo was mad at Doloran and Isshin was a bloody mess and the twins just didn't understand. They couldn't figure out why Ichigo was speaking when she hadn't on this day or the day before since their mothers death and they both believed Doloran had something to do with it, but didn't know what.

The air was hot and humid. The sun beat down on them all and they were sweating from the trek up the hill. Doloran was miserable, the heat was frying his brain and to make matters worse he had decided to wear black jeans and a black sleeveless shirt. The only relief from the sun he had was the white hat on his head. Ichigo had decided to wear a light red top showing off her toned stomach and she had on blue skinny jeans. Yuzu wore a simple yellow sun dress and Karin wore a pair of light brown khakis and a black shirt. Isshin was wearing a pair of blue jeans and white shirt.

The cemetery seemed quite disserted, but Doloran felt something was off and he could tell be the way Ichigo moved she felt it to. He glanced toward Isshin and was surprised to see he wasn't there. In fact he couldn't feel him anywhere, which meant the man was hiding his presence for some reason and that made him feel even more uneasy.

"Hey Ichi-nee, Doloran-nii, do you know that girl ahead of us she's wavy at you guys." Yuzu asked pointing the where the two could now see Rukia. Neither could believe she had followed, it was as if she didn't trust them to take care of anything that might show up, not that either of them had really had their jobs on their minds.

"She seems fairly happy for someone visiting a grave." Said Karin, adding her two cents.

Doloran could clearly see Ichigo was freaking out. "She's just a fellow student, hey Ichigo lets go see what she wants." Doloran said grabbing her hand run off toward Rukia.

"I think Doloran-nii's got some explaining to do." Karin said.

"What do you mean Karin-chan?" Yuzu said confused.

"You can't be serious Zu, haven't you seen the way Ichi-nee and Doloran-nii have been acting around each other. It's obvious they've been dating and this other girl shows up here and didn't you see the way Ichi-nee acted when she saw her?"

"If you say so Karin-chan, but that would mean Doloran-nii might be cheating on Ichi-nee."

"I hope not because if he has than Ichi-nee well most certainly beat the crap out of him."

* * *

"What the hell are you doing here Rukia?"

"What would you do if a Hollow attacked and I wasn't nearby?

"Doloran and I are fully capable of taking care of any Hollows if they would show up and that's why you were following us.

"You didn't need to follow us Rukia, we brought are Mod souls and it's not like a Hollow's going to show just because we're here." Doloran said. He was starting to think that she didn't think about anything else other than the job.

"Look I just want to make sure that if one did show up you could get out of your bodies. Ichigo you said your mother was killed, who killed her?" Rukia asked and Ichigo expression turned grim.

"I never said that."

"You told me you could see ghost for as long as you could remember, if that's so than could it be possible that she was killed by a Hollow?" Ichigo said nothing. "If your Reiatsu has always been so high than a Hollow could have mistaken you for…."

"It's always about Hollows with you. You don't understand anything, what the hell is your problem?" Ichigo said running off without waiting or wanting an answer.

"That was not a topic you should have brought up. I better go calm her down. Just stay clear of her till she calms down and don't bring that up with her again. It's painful for her." Doloran said running off after her, his displeasure with Rukia clear in his voice.

It didn't take him long to find her sitting against a tree crying. He sat down beside her placing a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him saying nothing and then she placed her head on his chest grabbing hand full of his shirt. He wrapped his arms around her holding her tight trying to calm her down. She calmed down after awhile and spoke. "Doloran, why must everything be about Hollows with her and why must she ask about such a painful subject?"

He wasn't surprised that she didn't understand why Rukia was the way she was. She hadn't grown up around Soul Reapers and had no idea how they were. "Ichigo you must understand that most Soul Reapers believe that emotion must be shed to do what they do and be able to handle it. She doesn't mean to hurt you, she just trying to find reason in a situation she doesn't understand and know enough about."

"You aren't like that and you're a Soul Reaper. Why are you so different?" She said with teary eyes.

"Ichigo I have experienced things that most soul reaper couldn't dream of doing in their entire lifetime. To do what I have and not become a monster I had to hold on to my emotions and hold them close or lose myself. It's in their nature to act the way she does, their warriors, they don't have the same everyday lives as you and your family have. They lose part of their humanity doing what they do and it's only the oldest of us who can gain it back. Don't hold it against her she isn't human and my never fully understand you. I was lucky enough to have a family and a mother much like yours, they taught me how to be a Soul Reaper and still be human. They kept me grounded and made sure I never lost sight of what I should and do hold dear, most Soul Reaper forget their humanity and allow what makes them human to slip away."

She looked up at him in understanding and he suspected that she wasn't really mad at Rukia, but was so used to blaming herself for her mother's death that she couldn't except that it wasn't her fault. "Doloran, do you think that it is possible that my mother was killed by a Hollow?"

"Ichigo I don't think you want to my opinion." He said softly not wanting her to push the matter and cause her more pain by telling her what he believed.

"Please tell me what you think Doloran, I value your opinion."

He really had hoped she wouldn't push. "Ichigo I think that it is a possibility, but have no proof and have no way of finding out. You have told me what happened that night and it just isn't enough."

She seemed to have finally calmed down, but seemed unwilling to remove her head from his chest. "Thank you Doloran, you've been nothing but honest and you have helped me a great deal.

That warmed his heart to know that he had made that much of an impact on her life. The skies were starting to cloud up and it was starting to rain he was about to ask if she wanted to find shelter before it staring raining heavier when he felt it, the presence of a Hollow and it was way too close to the twins for his comfort. Ichigo had felt it to and they quickly sprung into action heading for the twins.

They ran into Rukia on the way. "Ichigo I'm sorry about earlier, I had no business asking about it."

"Don't worry about. That Hollow is way too close to the girls."

"Ya I know, we should change now rather than when we get there." Doloran said removing his mod soul from his pocket popping it in his mouth. Doloran had Kisuke make them rather than using soul candy since there was too much of a chance they could miss too much school and the mod souls would be able to act more like a human rather than the soul candy's usually odd personalities. The mod souls would also be intelligent enough to take notes for them and help them study. So when a Hollow would show up they would ask to go to the bathroom and then switch with the mod souls. Doloran had made it a point to only do it as little as possible so as not to raise the suspicion of the Quincy.

Ichigo followed suit and popped her own mod soul in her mouth separating from her body. She had been against the mod soul at first, she hadn't wanted another soul in her body, but she caved when Doloran and Rukia said it was important to be able to change whenever she needed to and Rukia wasn't around with the glove of hers.

Approaching the twins they could see the Hollow had Karin and Yuzu and they were barely conscious on the ground. Doloran acted quickly drawing Souketsu and Sougetsu cutting the Hollows hand forcing the Hollow to drop the Karin. He quickly picked up Karin flash stepping back to Rukia where Ichigo had already taken Yuzu.

"Shadow, Vixen, take Karin and Yuzu and find cover." Ichigo said to the two mod souls placing Yuzu in Vixen's arms. Doloran followed suit placing Karin in Shadow's arms. The two mod souls had much the same personalities as their owners as not to tip of Ichigo and Doloran's friends to them not being in their bodies. The mod soul had worked out quite well, except for one thing. Kisuke had told the mod souls their real status, without telling Ichigo about hers of course. So the mod souls had insisted on using the Sama honorific when talking to them or about them and it was driving them both absolutely nuts. "Certainly, stay safe Ichigo-sama." Vixen said.

"Stay save Doloran-sama." Shadow said.

The Hollow had regained his senses and was moving toward them. In front of the Hollow a girl could be seen. "Doloran that's the girl I saw the night my okaa-san died." Ichigo said a little shaken. Memories of that night long forgot were coming back and she was realizing it had been her that had killed her, but she still felt guilt for not being powerful enough.

Doloran saw Ichigo was in sort of a trance and figured she was coming to terms with that night not being her fault, but he knew she like him wouldn't let go of all the guilt. "Rukia you do you know who this Hollow is?" he asked her seeing a hint of fear in her body language.

"Yes I do, he's Grand Fisher. He hides he's body and uses his lure to lure in humans with high spiritual pressure and then devours them, he has a fierce appetite for women and that girl you see is lure. For fifty-four years he has eluded all Soul Reaper who have hunted him and the few who have gotten close enough to take him down have lost their lives."

"Doloran I want you to stay out of this fight, he killed my okaa-san and I well kill him." She said clear anger in her voice.

"Not going to happen, Ichigo I'm a part of this family now so I have just as much stock in this as you." Doloran also had anger in his voice. He had failed to save her, but he would kill the damn Hollow that killed her.

"You should listen to your friend soul reaper. You will only die quicker without his help." The Hollow said grinning.

"You are the one who's dying to day Hollow. Reign over the frozen heavens, grant asylum to the innocent in the frozen wastelands, Souketsu Kyuuten Sougetsu Ryuujin" He said drawing the two swords at his waist. Both swords lengthened to about Doloran's height and their blades turned to a very deep blue and the blades themselves were see threw as if they were crystal. The tsuba changed to a snowflake design and was white in color. The rapping's around the handle changed to black and became cloth. The tassels were replaced by a single blue string of cloth dangling from the hilt. The girls were in haw of the swords beauty.

"You are too confident for your own good." The Hollow said making the first move sending several balls of fur toward all three of them.

They dodged the balls of fur taking defensive stances, Doloran and Ichigo with their swords and Rukia with hands stretched out, ready to fire a Kidou spell with what little power she had regained. The very air around them felt much colder and the rain hitting that air was turning the rain into snow. The sheer beauty of his Zanpakuto left Ichigo feeling incomplete. She felt a need like never before to have that strength that a Zanpakuto released could give. She felt like she was letting Doloran down by not being able to communicate with her inner spirit yet and it wasn't just him. She knew the Hollow was to powerful for her to take alone. All the Kidou she had learned wouldn't help her in the least if she couldn't harness enough of her own power to take him out.

"Do you know why Soul Reapers that I haven't fallen to your kind. My lure can take the form of the one person you can't hurt and that is why you will lose like all the other Reapers who have faced me before." The Hollow was too arrogant for his own good. Doloran was worried however, he couldn't call upon his full strength and he knew Ichigo hadn't met her Zanpakuto yet and Rukia was just getting her powers back. He wasn't sure they could kill the thing without him revealing himself to Soul Society.

Ichigo was tired of waiting and lunched her first attack. "Bakudou number four Hainawa." Ropes of light shout forth toward the Hollow binding it in place for her to follow up with a second attack. "Ruler, mask of flesh and blood, all things in the universe that fly, that which names man, in the name of truth and temperance, dig your claws into the walls of sinless dreams. Hadou number thirty-three Sokatsui."

The Hollow screamed in pain and began breaking the bindings. Doloran quickly jumped in front of the Hollow lunching his own attack. "Ruler of mask of flesh and blood, all things in the universe fly, that which names all, heat and war, beyond the sea the in reverse, take steps to the south. Hadou number thirty-one Shakkaho." The attack coupled with Ichigo's produced large burns on the Hollow.

"You worthless soul reapers, that won't stop me!" The Hollow yelled sending large balls of hair at them both. Doloran managed to doge them all, but Ichigo wasn't so lucky and the Hollow was upon her before either Doloran or Rukia could yell for her to move. The fur had anchored her feet to the ground and she was unable to move which aloud the Hollow to pierce her stomach. Doloran acted quickly jumping at the Hollow to cut off its claws from Ichigo, but the Hollow acted instantly using his other arm to grasp him in such a way that he was unable to use either of his swords. "Know I have you both and by piercing your flesh a have been able to look through your memories finding the one person neither of you can attack." The Hollow said laughing triumphantly.

Doloran hacked up blood the Hollow had caught him in the lung and he was having trouble breathing. He had made a move he wouldn't have in the past, he had acted to rashly and it had cost him, but that didn't mean he was unable to get out of the Hollows grasp. "Your arrogance is astounding Hollow, you get a hold of two soul reaper who you've seen use Kidou and yet you don't make sure they can't use it. Hadou number four Byakurai." The words left his mouth in a rasp and the Hollow had no time to act. Releasing his grasp from around him Doloran he swung out his sword severing the claws from Ichigo's stomach. He grabbed her and flashed stepped several yards away from the Hollow.

Ichigo could see he was hurt badly and yet he still got them both out of the Hollows grasp and she felt it was her fault. She hadn't been fast enough to get out of the way and now she knew she would have to be on her own for the rest of the fight or at least she thought. "Doloran I'm sorry, you got hurt because of me." She said

"Don't worry about it, I've sustained worse injuries and still fought." He replied to her having quite a hard time talking. He could fell his regenerative abilities starting to take effect, but he knew it would take time to work. His healing abilities were one of the many he hadn't fully recovered.

The Hollow was laughing once again and they quickly saw why, the Hollow had transformed his lure and there before them was a beautiful woman who Ichigo and Doloran recognized as Kurosaki Masaki or at least appeared to be. Ichigo couldn't move she didn't want to believe what she was seeing. She knew her mother to be died, so she knew in her heart it wasn't really her. That didn't change what she was seeing however and she wasn't sure of what to do. Then all time around her seemed to slow. Her vision of her surroundings blurred and all she could see was the image of her mother and two ghostly figures of a man and what she thought was a woman.

She could make out faint details of the man, he wore a long ragged coat and she could make out a beard and sunglasses. The man looked at her and the women seemed to pay no mind to her. "_Why do you not call upon me Ichigo_." She didn't understand at first how he knew her, but she soon realized who or what he may be. "_Why do you fear calling me when your heart desires it so? The longer you chose not to except who you are the more people around you will get hurt. You have already cast out the last of the Soul Reapers power, all that remains is your own." _Her vision began to clear and she just barley dodged an attack from the Hollow. She went to counter when the lure appeared before her.

"You won't hurt your okaa-san right Ichigo. You want to be together again don't you?" The image of her mother said rapping her arms around her. Her vision blurred once again. "_That isn't your okaa-san Ichigo. Search your heart and find your answers. How long must I go unanswered and how long will you ignore my calls." _Her vision cleared once again and she could see Doloran fighting the Hollow directly. She could hear Rukia yelling at her but couldn't understand what she was saying. Did she really fear unleashing her power and more importantly how was she not excepting who she was. How could she be afraid of whom she was, but she was sure of one thing the woman in front of her had to go it wasn't her mother and she wasn't going to let the Hollow take her for a fool.

Rukia was repeatedly trying to fire Kidou to release the lures grasp from Ichigo, but was finding she couldn't. The Hollow was attacking Doloran relentlessly not giving him an opportunity to release Ichigo either and it was only making him angrier. He was losing blood at an increasing rate and his vision was blurring. The Hollow lunched yet another round of fur at him. He acted quickly jumping in the air. "Bakudou number four, Hainawa" He yelled the ropes of light raped around the Hollow and its fur. Doloran followed up his attack with another. "Bakudou number Sixty-Three, Rikujokoro." The ropes of light turned instantly into six bars of light trapping the Hollow in its own fur.

Ichigo was getting increasingly angrier. The Hollow's lure was showing her memories of her past while speaking to her in her mother's form. She realized now what her Zanpakuto was talking about. She was living in the past, not moving forward. In truth she was afraid that if she let go of the past she might forget her mother and why she had became what she was. She was afraid to let others truly be a part of her life. Doloran was the only person she allowed in and not even her own family perhaps knew her as well as him. She had let her memories of that night run her life and she was determined to change that here and now. "Get the hell out of my way; she said releasing a burst of energy from her sword. The Hollow's lure was destroyed all most instantly. Moving quickly she lunched herself at the Hollow seeing it entrapped in Doloran's Kidou. She would defeat it with or without her power and lay to rest the feelings of regret she felt even if it killed her. "_Then you understand, my power is yours. Now call out my name."_

"I will not be defeated you Hollow scum, you are by far the foulest Hollow I have ever fought. You killed my mother and dare defile her memory by taking her form, I will kill you." The Hollow began laughing once again. "Your arrogance his astounding Soul Reaper that you still think just because you have destroyed my lure you can win. It doesn't matter how many times you trap me in your Kidou I well have your souls and those ones that got away."

The Hollow's comment only angered her more. "You're the arrogant one Hollow! Descend from the moon and pierce the heavens Zangetsu, Getsuga Tenshou!" Blue energy shaped in the form of a cresset moon lunched out from the tip of her blade straight at the Hollow. The Hollow freed itself once more, but was unable to escape the attack from Ichigo. The attack hit the Hollow and exploded, the whole area lit up in blue.

Doloran knew better than to think it was over and prepared another attack. He brought both of his swords in front of him in an x-shape. "Jigoku Fuyu(Hells Winter)!" He felt his power flowing through his blades and was unsure if it would work. The attack was a joint attack composed of both his twin Zanpakuto, his other Zanpakuto was still asleep, but some of its power was returning and he thought it was the only attack he could release without alerting Soul Society and still end the fight here and now. To his luck he could fell the energy in his blades release outward. The area around the fight darkened. The air became thick and hot, but still held its chill. Rukia and Ichigo felt uneasy around the darkness, they felt like they were being swallowed whole. Ichigo was less uneasy then Rukia, she had felt this darker side of him when she had seen is memories. The energy in Doloran's blade released fully sending a wave of energy at the Hollow comprised of scorching flames, freezing water and a darkness that could block out the very sun. The resulting explosion knocked them off their feet. The attack was much stronger than Doloran had expected. He knew he had to act quickly or be detected by Soul Society. He stretched out his power toward the explosion drawing in any of his excess power trying his best to not be detected.

Ichigo and Rukia were shacking from the immense display of power Doloran had just shown, but what none of them say was the figure of a man standing by a nearby tree out of sight. Said man had been watching the whole fight and was suppressing the excess power being released from Doloran's attack. He was having no problem at it and was glad to see the man's power returning. He was also proud to see his daughter growing up and getting stronger as well. He knew they would be ready for what was to come.

Doloran didn't understand where he went wrong. He was positive his attack had never been that strong and even if it had he couldn't see how it could be that strong with one of his Zanpakuto asleep. He was a little unnerved at how dark the attack had been. His other Zanpakuto may control the elements of fire and darkness, but it had never been that dark and there was certain rawness to it that hadn't been there before. "**Heh, are you scared partner**." Doloran froze stiff. That voice was one he hadn't heard in a long time and it wasn't one he wanted to hear. The voice of his alter ego and greatest enemy, he couldn't understand how he was out of his cage. "**Heh, I told you I would be back. You can't cage the beast forever**."

Doloran grabbed hold of his head, his alter egos laughter casing him pain. Doloran could fell his power getting darker, his control slipping. He knew he had to do something and quick. He feared the girls finding out about his dark secret that only a few others were aware of. He knew Rukia most likely wouldn't understand and could possibly grow to fear him and Ichigo would want to help, putting her in danger. "**You're not as strong as you once were. I told you I would be back, If you had only accepted me. I'll have fun with your girlfriend when I take over." **He was doing his best to not let his alter ego get to him, but the last part about Ichigo ignited a fire in his soul. A fire he hadn't felt in a long time. He'd be damned if he allowed his alter ego to hurt her. "I'll be damned if you take over and hurt her! Go back where you belong!" Focusing all his power inward he lunched it at his alter ego determined to silence it and put it back in its cage. His efforts were working he could hear his alter ego crying out in protest to being put back into his cage, but it was taking all Doloran had to do it.

Doloran fell to the ground, the beast's presence gone. He was exhausted and only hoped the girls hadn't felt it and that the Hollow was dead. His head ached, his muscles were sore and he was too spent to fight anymore or even get up. He felt like he had failed once again to keep himself in control. He hated to admit that his alter ego scared him and that perhaps it was the one thing he had truly ever struggled with. He could deal with his emotions even in his most painful moments, but every time he dealt with his alter ego he felt like he couldn't come out ahead or unscathed. He wondered if it was fear itself that he feared and not his alter ego. He had gone through most of his life without failure and it had been expected of him, not only from his family and friends and even his subordinates, but he himself expected it. In his opinion failure wasn't an option and when he had finally tasted failure it had shaken him to his core.

He was unsure were to go from here, he knew it wouldn't be much longer until they would have to go to Soul society and if he couldn't get stronger than he knew he wouldn't be able to control his alter ego. He had planned to start the harder training latter, but now he had no choice. Her training would also have to be his training. If he had his way they would both walk into Soul Society with bankai. It was the only course he saw, but that didn't mean they could do it.

He was aware of the girl's presence before him now and they both wore worried exasperations. Ichigo was knelt in front of him. She reached up and wiped away a tear that he hadn't known he had shed. He took his eyes off her and looked to the ground. She then took hold of his chin forcing him to make eye contact with her. She breathed out harshly letting go of a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. He could see clear concern in her face and Rukia held it as well. She looked in his eye and could tell he felt unnerved and even thought see saw sorrow. She didn't like seeing it in his eyes, she wrapped her arms around him placing his head on her shoulder. He wondered when they had become so close for her to have taken hold of him. The previous night had been different, she had needed the comfort, but what had made her take such an action. He hadn't spoken to anything that had just taken place. He wondered if he had shown too much in his body language or perhaps she just understood him enough to know something was really off.

He stayed motionless, breathing deeply. His whole body shook from the stress of his alter ego's appearance. Ichigo said nothing either taking an even tighter hold on him. Rukia was also knelt beside him now. He didn't dare speak worried his voice would betray him. The girls were content to wait and let him speak, neither sure what happened. Ichigo felt truly unnerved by his silence and what she had felt from him his energy. She had hoped he would recover quickly before Rukia had seen him and had been willing to wait until they got home to ask him what was wrong, but that hadn't happened and Rukia had saw him. She hadn't been too worried at first thinking it had just been due to his final attack killing the Hollow taking too much out of him with the wounds he had sustained, but Ichigo reaction to his position had tipped her off to it being something more.

Doloran finally got his breathing under control and Ichigo let go of him as he moved to stand. He dropped his gaze to the ground once more, walking off toward the twins and their mod souls. "I'm alright, just old memories coming to the surface. You should head home Rukia and get cleaned up." His voice shaky, yet not giving him away. Rukia took what he said to be true and turned to head off. Ichigo followed after him knowing he lied and figured he just didn't want to talk about. She caught up with him and placed her arm around him. She didn't know what to say to him, she could tell he was hurt. She looked to his wounds and saw they were slowly healing and felt it was her fault he had taken that attack trying to help her. She quickly berated herself for feeling guilty, she knew she had to look forward for her sake and his.

The walk to the twins was quick and they were back in their bodies. The mod souls picked up on something being off and had stayed silent, since they could tell neither was going to talk about it. The twins were asleep against the wall. They had checked to make sure they were both ok and left the small building walking toward Masaki's grave. Doloran still refused to speak and he just wanted to go home, but he couldn't deny Ichigo the opportunity to see her mother and he felt he had to pay his respects to the woman whom made such a nice family. A family that has so easily accepted him and he had grown to love.

The rain had stopped giving them both a needed relief. Night had fallen around them and Doloran felt like he was being swallowed by it, but was comforted by Ichigo being by his side and being so understanding. He was thankful she was by his side and hadn't pushed him to tell her what was wrong. He knew he would have to tell her when they got home about what had happened and about his alter ego. He felt she had the right to know, he felt it wasn't right to not tell her if she was going to fight by his side. She gave him the strength to deal with the basturd and he believed she had helped him push it away even if she wasn't aware of it.

Masaki's grave was coming into sight. They walked up to her grave kneeling before it. Ichigo still held tight to Doloran, his presence giving her the strength not to cry. "Okaa-san we avenged your death today. I want you to meet the man who has become part of our family. He had become a brother to the twins and a son to Otou-san. He has become a great friend to me and helped me speak on two days that I haven't been able to since your death." Ichigo paused to hold back the tears she didn't want to shed. Tears she felt she mustn't if she was to move forward and shed the guilt of that day. "He has become part of my life in a way that I thought no one ever could. He knows the pain I feel and understands me and the most importantly I couldn't have avenged your death without him and his name his Darkblaze Doloran." She looked to Doloran letting him know that she had said what she had wished to say.

Doloran still felt like not talking, but felt it would be a disservice to not pay his respects. "Maskai-san I thank you for making a family that was so willing to allow me into their lives and have grown to love me. I have learned what is to have a family again and love them with all my heart and will protect them with everything I have. They have given me happiness that I haven't felt in such a long time. I wish I had been able to meet you. I have found someone who understands me in your daughter and have been able to share with her what I couldn't with anyone else." Doloran said as truthfully as he could happy to be so lucky to have had the opportunity to know them and grown to love them. He felt great sorrow over not being there to save her and to have never known such a wonderful woman. With their peace said they both got up and just stood by her grave.

"There you to are, I've been looking for you." They turned to see Isshin approaching in a suit and smoking a cigarette.

Ichigo frowned at her father seeing him smoking. "I thought you quit smoking Ojji?"

She asked surprised to see him smoking and surprised he hadn't said anything about her arm being around Doloran's.

Isshin smiled at the two, he was happy to see them growing so close and happy that they were happy. They both had been so depressed for so long. He could tell Doloran was troubled and he was aware of the why. He thought about asking him about it a first, but decided that they would be able to handle it. "Around the time your okaa-san and I started dating she had told me I looked cool smoking. Now that I think about it that was the only time she complemented me on my looks, so every year a smoke one on this day in front of her."

With that Isshin said he turned to walk away looking at them one last time. "I want you two to do something for me. Live well, age well and die long after me and if you can, die smiling."

"And if we can't." Doloran asked.

"I won't be able to face Masaki. I'll be waiting at the bottom when you're ready." He said without turning to look at them.

They both stayed quiet enjoying the silence. Ichigo looked up at Doloran and said something she felt she need to. "Thank you Doloran for helping me avenge my mother's death, I can finally let go of what happened that day and it all thanks to you."

Even though Doloran still felt bad he gave her smile. "You're welcome Ichigo and you did great today. We better go it's getting late and we have school tomorrow if you feel like going."

They both made their way down the hill and quickly meeting up with the twins and Isshin. Isshin was waiting patiently and the twins were beside him asleep. Doloran walked over to Karin picking her up while Isshin took Yuzu and they headed home.

Once the twins were put in bed and Ichigo and Doloran took their showers they headed to bed. Isshin stopped Doloran on his way and asked him to come to his room so they could have a small talk. Doloran did as he asked and followed the man to his room. Once there Isshin had motioned for him to take a seat at his desk chair. Isshin took a seat on his bed wearing a serious expression.

"Thank you for avenging Masaki's death and helping Ichigo move on. I have always regretted not being strong enough to save her that night and being so powerless, I have caused my girls a great deal of pain. I am in your debt." Isshin said. Doloran thought he had never seen the man so serious, he even bowed to him. It made him uneasy knowing the man status.

Doloran didn't quite know what to say. He had always felt his absence had paid a big part in her death. "You don't need to thank me, it the least I could do for everything you and your daughters have done for me. I have a heavy guilt over her death if I had only been here."

Isshin got from his bed walking over to Doloran knelling before him. He placed a hand on his shoulder. "Doloran you are a part of this family the girls aren't simply my daughters, the twins love you as if you wore my own and I am well aware of what's going on with you and Ichigo even if the two of you aren't fully aware of how close your becoming and what it means for the two of you. I mean it when I say you are a son to me and no matter where you and Ichigo go from here I well except it with open arms. I fully believe Masaki wouldn't have it any other way. Let go of what guilt you have over her, you had no part in it. There is was no way for anything to have been different that would have placed you there that day and as much as I would have liked things to be different I wouldn't have had it any other way." The man left Doloran speechless. There seemed to be no end to the man's kindness. "You are my son now Doloran and I want you to be happy; I meant what I said at the cemetery. It's late and you need your rest and Ichigo's getting impatient. Go to bed son, I believe you and Ichigo have some things to talk about."

Doloran did as the man instructed without another word. He wondered if Isshin knew what happed to him at the cemetery, but didn't dare ask the man about it. He stretched out is senses before entering his and Ichigo's room to make sure Rukia was asleep and was surprised to find they were both asleep. He hadn't expected for Ichigo to be asleep after all that had happened. If either of them had any idea of what had happened it would be Ichigo. She had already felt the darkness in his soul once and he had fully expected for her not go to sleep without answers and it was somewhat of a relief to not have to talk about so soon. He didn't want to push her away.

Making as little sound as he could he quietly made his way to his mat unsure of what the next step might be. He knew that the shit had seriously hit the fan and he knew things would be difficult from here on in, but that didn't change what he wanted to do in the least. It just meant he would have to work harder and be even more on guard. He fell asleep almost instantly upon hitting mat and even thought the day had been long and really sucked, but he fell into a deep restful sleep.

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Jigoku Fuyu(Hells Winter) I Believe this is a right translation but I am not completely sure.


	8. The Quincy and The Truth of Their Demise

The Black Flame and the Frozen Wasteland

Summary:

A soul reaper long thought dead turns up in Karakura town the night of the attack on the Kurosaki family. Who is this new Reaper and what does he want, who are his allies and what does his return to mean for them all. A femIchi Fic

DSF- "I changed very little in this chapter, mostly spelling and a few sentances."

Sougetsu and Souketsu –"DSF does not own Bleach that right and honor belongs to Tite Kubo, he does however own any OC's and changes to the plot."

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Chapter 8: The Quincy and The Truth of Their demise

The past several days had been quite frustrating for Rukia, Ichigo and Doloran were way to quiet and seemed to be on a short fuse. That wasn't even the half of it, when they had showed up at school the day after the anniversary of Ichigo's mother's death all her friends had been so surprised to see her there when most of them knew she hadn't came to school on that day in years. Keigo being his usually idiotic self berated her with questions and ended up getting his ass kicked by both Ichigo and Doloran. Most of the others had steered clear of them after that. Tatsuki knowing the truth had asked Doloran if he was the cause of her appearance at school was met a clear answer of she would have to ask Ichigo. The answered had miffed her; she was the only one of her friends who knew about his place of residence being with Ichigo's family.

Rukia was being put on edge by the two's behavior and treaded carefully when talking to them as not to set them off. She had been surprised to find that they didn't get pissed at her, but refused to talk to her about what was bothering them. It was with each passing day that she becoming more confused with the two of them. She was surprised to find she was becoming closer to them with everyday and it was making her regret every being stationed in Karakura town and she knew no matter what she said or did the two of them would came after her. She had grown to care deeply for them and she didn't wish to see any more harm come to them.

Doloran and Ichigo weren't aware of it, but she had heard some of their conversation the night before the anniversary of Ichigo's mother's death. What she heard about Doloran's past had scared her. She would have never thought in her wildest dreams the he could be so young and have had experienced such horrific things. The fact that he was of nobility was not at all that surprising, she had quickly noticed certain things that he did that were sure signs of nobility. What had surprised her was who his grandfather was and it had been incredibly hard for her not to ask him about it. She wished she had heard about his family from her brother. She had an erg to know who they were and more importantly who he was. The more she learned about him the more questions she had.

She was worried about what might happen to her after they rescued her. She knew something had to be going on for Doloran not use his family's power to protect her. She had heard him say that his mother's family was one of highest in nobility and she knew that alone gave him more pull than anyone in Soul Society. It made her wonder just what was going on in Soul Society for him to want to hide himself. She had begun to pay close attention to his power, movements and how he worded his conversations to find out more about what was going on and she was having little luck.

One thing was certain in her mind and that was his power was massive and his control even better. She had found out quickly the true length of his power the night they fought Grand Fissure, the sure depth of it amazed her. She doubted that were very many in Soul Society who could contend with it. She had in the past spared with her brother and never once had she felt such depth in him as in Doloran. She admitted to herself that she feared him. She had only seen him use one of his Zanpakuto and had an unshakable suspicion that his power was far from matured and that was a truly terrifying thought indeed.

She doubted she even had a brother after what she had done. The clan elders had been looking for quite some time for anything they could use to remove her from the clan. She believed whole heartedly that no harm would come to her, Doloran had made that very clear, but she also knew that after everything was said and done she would no longer have a home and it didn't bother her in the least. She had grown accustom to Ichigo and Doloran and had no intention to leave them even if she had wished she hadn't been stationed on Karakura town in the first place. She realized if she was honest with herself, she never really saw her adoptive brother as a brother, in fact she never felt like she belonged with him in the first place. She was resolved to go were ever destiny led her and do whatever she must. Rukia looked over to her left to see that Ichigo like her was in deep thought.

Every event since Rukia's arrival was running through Ichigo's head. She was unsure how to feel at the moment. So much had happened in such a short time changing everything she thought she knew about life and her existence in it. She was grateful for the change, but it left her with even more questions than she had had before Doloran's and Rukia's arrival. Doloran had made such a huge impact on the whole family and had made her open her eyes to what she had been wrongfully holding onto; even Rukia had a part in it even if the family didn't know she was there. If she was truthful to herself than she had to admit that she could no longer she herself without Doloran and Rukia in her life.

Doloran had managed to open her heart after so many years of it being closed off to her friends and even her family to an extent. She no longer felt alone in the world and they had given her a sense of peace, but she couldn't shake the uneasy feeling she still felt. She had learned so much and yet still couldn't fathom how everything in her life had come to her. The both were so important to her and it was if her very existence revolved around them. For once she had no regrets and felt she could finally move forward, but she feared what they may have to go through to keep what they had gained.

The fact that she had gotten a lot stronger left her feeling like she could deal with whatever might come her way. Doloran had stepped up her training and she was finding it enjoyable. She was grateful that everything he taught came so easy to her. Kidou had been the hardest to learn and the control that went along with it, but once she got the hang of control the rest came easier than she had expected. She was in enjoying the control she had gained and with it she began hiding from Doloran and Rukia whenever she could and popping out unexpectedly just to scare the hell out of them.

She had been zoning out most of the day and was just glad to be near the end of it and was thankful it was Friday. One thing had been bothering though and that was Doloran energy the night they fought Grand Fisher. She had asked him about it and he had been vague, but what he had told her had unnerved her. The thought of having some being other than her Zanpakuto living in her inner world made her skin crawl. He had told her what she had to do if she was ever near him if it ever came out and she hadn't liked what he had told her to do.

The last bell went off and she got up gathering her things to leave. Doloran had said they were taking the day off today so they were just going to head home and take care of all their home work so their weekend would be free. Saying their goodbyes to their friends they headed off. Ichigo noticed Doloran seemed distracted and kept looking around without drawing attention to him. He looked a little uneasy and she was beginning to feel like they were being fallowed. Instinctively she let her senses expand to see if she could tell what he was sensing, but seemed unable to find any spiritual pressure near them. It was a relief to her, she had thought perhaps there was hollow and Rukia pager hadn't picked it up. The damn thing had been sending them false signals the last few days and it was driving her nuts.

The felling that they were being followed just wouldn't leave. Rounding a corner one of their classmates came into view. She didn't recognize him right away, but soon realized he was part of one of the clubs at school. Though she couldn't quite remember what club he belonged to. She glanced at Doloran when she saw her fellow student wasn't going to let them pass and saw he was frowning.

Uryuu looked on at three before him and was surprised to see Doloran among them. He was aware that Doloran had made friends with the two, but hadn't thought they were close enough to be hanging out together outside school. He quite liked the man and hoped he wasn't mixed up with the two. "Doloran you should go on ahead I have something to discuss with these two and I don't want you involved."

Doloran wasn't happy that the man had decided to reveal himself now. The day had been long and he was in no mood to deal with the Quincy. He had been aware that Rukia's pager wasn't broken and that in fact it had been the Quincy taking out the hollows. He would have taken care of the problem before hand had he not felt it might have lead to a fight with the man and by the look in the man's eyes that was exactly what he planned. "While I appreciate that, it's not something I can do."

The Quincy's frowned quite dramatically to his comment. "There are things you don't know about these two Doloran and you would be better of not knowing. So you should leave." The Quincy had said forcefully.

The comment by the Quincy had both Rukia and Ichigo wondering if the he knew about their true nature. The girls had known Doloran long enough to know that the hand placed in his pocket had taken hold of his mod soul and that his feet had moved to a defensive stance. Those facts had them wondering what threat this student could possibly pose. "What makes you think I don't know what their secrets are and yours as well?"

The Quincy was speechless, he couldn't believe that there was even the slightest possibility that the man before him knew what the two girls were. He couldn't except that the man he had grown to respect could possibly be mixed up with the two, but if he was that left him unsure of what he was. He had never felt even an ounce of spiritual pressure from the man, so how could he know.

Ichigo didn't like how the conversation was going. She had no intention of speaking her mind just yet not sure of exactly what was going on and it seemed Rukia was doing the same. She knew the man before them was a fellow student in her class, but she had never talked to him and knew very little about him. Her hand was itching to reach for her own mod soul. She resisted the urge not wanting to tip off the man to her action if indeed he was aware of her. Her only comfort was that it seemed the man didn't have any idea about what Doloran was.

It seemed to Doloran that the Quincy was quite confused and was absolutely oblivious to what he had meant and what he was. "You have no idea what you're doing, do you Uryuu? You wish to challenge them I take it and you plan to do that without knowing what or who I am and I'll make it clear to you that I have no intention of letting any harm come to them." Doloran said defiantly. The Quincy was way over his head in Doloran's opinion and he had no intention of letting his respect for the man as an intellectual get in the way of protecting the girls. He wouldn't kill the Quincy for he had too much respect for life and they were a dying breed, but that didn't mean he wouldn't beat the living crap out of him.

Uryuu was furious for trusting the man when he clearly knew what they were and for insulting his intelligence. The fact that he seemed to know what he was and still wanted to protect them made him even angrier. "So be it I'll prove to you and them that I am far superior to the soul reaper and that there not needed in this world. The only thing I want to know is how you know about them and me and more importunity what you are."

During the whole conversation Ichigo had been slowly making her way toward Doloran incase he needed her. She could tell the man was getting angrier by the second. Rukia had been slowing making her way to the side to give them room not sure what might happen.

Doloran removed his hand from his pocket ready to act. "That should be obvious Quincy I'm a soul reaper." Doloran shouted popping his mod soul his mouth separating from his body lunching himself at the Quincy penning him to the ground. Ichigo had followed suit and was by his side in an instant, their mod souls off to the side waiting for their orders.

Uryuu was beyond mad and every intention of teaching the soul reapers a lesson. "I never would have guessed and to think I liked you, but no matter the game begins now." The Quincy stared defiantly into Doloran's eyes. A fainted crushing sound was heard and what had happened didn't register in his mind right away. Then Doloran felt it, the spiritual pressure of hollows. "You fool!" Doloran yelled punching the Quincy in the face with all his strength. He lifted the Quincy up and threw him forcefully into a nearby wall.

Ichigo had been confused at first about why what had set Doloran off, but quickly understood when she had felt a hollow arrival and to her utter horror there were a great deal of them. She also realized by Doloran's action they were here because of something the Quincy had done. "Doloran how did he summon the hollows?"

"The fool used hollow bait and a strong one at that. How could you be so stupid Quincy? Do you realize how many people could die because of what you have done" Doloran stated and the Quincy seemed unaffected what so ever by Doloran's words. "I told you I would prove just how useless you soul reaper are in this world. I have no intention of letting the people of this town die. This is the challenge soul reaper, whom ever kills the most at the end of this battle will be the winner." The Quincy said. Doloran backed off from the Quincy felling a hollow approaching. He turned to attack it, but the Quincy managed to kill it first.

One thought ran Ichigo's mind and that was her sister Karin might be in danger. She knew Yuzu would be at home right now, but Karin usually played soccer with her friends on Friday. "Doloran Karin might be in danger, we have to find her." Doloran could clearly hear how frantic Ichigo's voice was and in truth he had forgot Karin would most likely be playing soccer with her friends. "Ichigo stay here and keep an eye on the Quincy, I'll go after Karin. I can make it to her quicker than you." He said turning to the mod souls and Rukia. "Rukia go to Kisuke's and get his help. Shadow with me and Vixen head home and protect Yuzu." Doloran left no time for a reply and flashed stepped off toward were he could feel Karin was at thankful Kisuke had made sure his mod soul could keep up with him.

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Rukia had wasted no time in taking off toward Kisuke's and was near the shop. She could see Tessai was holding Jinta in the air and thought he was picking on him so she kicked him in the ass. She instantly regretted it when her foot felt like she had kicked a brick wall. Tessai turned toward her. "Kuchiki-Dono is there anything you need."

"Is Urahara here?" She asked rubbing her sore foot.

"He's inside Kuchiki-Dono." Rukia got up thanking him and went inside and sure enough the hat n' clogged man was right inside.

"Oh my, well if it isn't Kuchiki-san. What's up?" The hat n' clogged man asked.

Rukia threw her phone at the man quite pissed he hadn't answered her calls over the past several days. "What do you mean what's up. You haven't answered my calls and haven't been here now matter how many times I have stopped by."

The hat n' clogged man rubbed his chin were she had hit him with the phone. "Oh sorry about that, we've been somewhat busy and the store has often been left empty. So what can I do for you?"

"Doloran sent me, we ran in to some trouble and one of the students whom Doloran called a Quincy used some hollow bait. Doloran said the bait was quite strong. He asked me to get your help."

"It has a familiar ring to it. It has been roughly two-hundred years that I have heard mention of them." Tessai said entering the room startling Rukia somewhat.

"What the hell is a Quincy!"

Kisuke pulled his hat over his eyes a deep frown on his face. "The Quincy were scattered all over the world at one time. They were a clan who gained the power to destroy hollows. They were all but destroyed two-hundred years ago, however a few of them survived and their survival was because one soul reaper stood against Central Forty-Six's order to eradicate them.

It took Rukia a minute for all that he had said to sink in. She was truly horrified that Central Forty-Six had ordered the destruction of an entire race. "Destroyed, but who saved them. To defy Central Forty-Six would mean that person would have the whole Gotei Thirteen after that person's life."

"In modern terms they were humans who, like Kurosaki-san had the ability to detect the existence of hollows. The problem started when they began training to confront them. In order to defeat hollows the same as soul reapers do." Kisuke paused, he truly hated the way the whole ordeal had went. "There is a crucial deference between them and soul reapers and that deference was what lead to their destruction. That difference was weather to kill or not to kill hollows."

The true significance of that fact horrified her to her core. To kill a hollow rather than purify it would mean the soul would never return to the cycle of reincarnation.

"The Quincy decided to kill them believing that hollows even thought they lose all there humanity when they become what they are had no right to be purified. If you think about it, it was a natural human reaction. Hollows devour the souls of humans. They couldn't understand why, they who harm and kill friends and relatives get sent peacefully to Soul Society. So they tried to kill hollows and they had faith that they were avenging their friends. That faith let to the war against them and their destruction."

Rukia wasn't sure how to feel, she understood how they felt even if she didn't agree with them. "So who was it that ended up saving them?"

Kisuke's eyes were now downcast and his hat was covering them even further. "The soul reaper whom saved their race was Doloran and it cost him and his family dearly."

* * *

"Undo what you've done!" Ichigo said shoving the Quincy against a nearby wall hitting him in the face.

"Don't speak rashly. You saw it, didn't you? The die as been cast, soon the hollows lured by the bait will flood this town. Instead of grabbing me you should run if you wish to protect as many people from hollows as possible." The Quincy said with a smug look.

"You bastard, I can't do that. Doloran told me to keep an eye on you, so that's what I'll do.

"So what, you do everything those two soul reapers tell you to do? I bet you can't even do anything without the girl soul reapers permission." The Quincy said with a smile.

"I'll do whatever Doloran says, because I believe he knows what's best and he obviously knows more about this situation than I, as for Rukia, I shed her power some time ago." Ichigo replied swing around killing a hollow that was about to attack her. "If you knew anything about him you would know he's much more than just a soul reaper and I won't have you saying anything about him!"

* * *

A tall young man stopped looking up at the sky, somehow sensing the presence of the hollows and that those around him were in danger. "Something wrong Chad?"

"No, it's nothing." The young giant replied to his band mate.

"Hurry up Chad! The lunchtime service is gonna end! They'll make us pay an extra Five-Hundred yen."

"That's bad." The young giant replied.

"Right, it's bad! If you know it's bad then c'mon! The young giant noticed the presence was getting closer and it seemed familiar to him, but he couldn't put a finger on it. The young giant's friend hit him. "Gimme a break man, our meager part-time pay barley manages to keep food on the table! It's different from having a carefree student's life like you people. We're simply living enough to earn food. So let's go.

The young giant was about to say something to his friend when a felt something crash beside him. A huge explosion followed. The young giant couldn't understand what he was feeling. The smoke cleared and the youth could make out something in front of him, but it was haze. He was certain something was there and that it must be after him. He felt it move toward him, he pushed his friends out of the way. He looked toward where they had been and the cement under them had been broken into pieces. The youth turned to his friends. "Run" then turned and ran off in an attempt to get somewhere he could face the thing without anybody getting hurt, knowing it would follow. The park came into view and he felt he was in luck, until he saw some kids playing there. He stopped in front of a young girl whom he recognized.

"You're Ichi-nee and Doloran-nii's friend, the guy with the parakeet?" Karin asked wondering why he was here.

"Ichigo's little sister" it was all the youth could seem to say, knowing of Doloran's residence at Ichigo's house even if neither of them or their other friends knew it.

"What's a nice grown up like you doing coming to a place like this?" Karin was completely confused. Neither of them had any time to say or do anything else. The hollow had appeared once again and attacked. Chad grabbed hold of the young Kurosaki and jumped out of the way. Upon standing Karin could see the monster and instantly felt dread. She had some idea what it was for she remembered what had happened that day at the cemetery and she had seen her older sister and brother.

Karin's friends were at a loss to what was going on. They saw the dirt in the air around their friend and the giant, but had no idea what had caused it or what he was doing.

The hollow attacked once more and giant once again moved them both out of the way. The creature had stopped moving and the giant had picked up on it. He wondered if it was appraising the situation or if it was waiting for some other reason. The giant cursed himself for not being able to see it more clearly. Karin on the other hand just wanted to know what the hell it was. "What is that thing?" She asked the giant figuring if he was getting them out of the way than he knew what it was.

"Can you see it clearly?" The giant asked encoring her question since he himself didn't know what it was.

"Can I see it….? What are talking about? I can see it as clear as day." The hollow took that moment to attack. "Mister behind you." The giant threw the girl on his shoulder again dodging the creature. He lost sight of the creature in his attempt to dodge.

"Where are you looking Mister, it's on your right side." He managed to just dodge the creature and took off running. "Mister could it be that you can't see that thing?"

"I can see it somewhat." The giant replied.

"So in short you can't see much. I'll be your eyes!" she said, the hollow in close pursuit.

"Wha…" was all the giant could say.

"Use me! This isn't the first time I have seen these monsters. I have to know, what connection do you have with Ichi-nee and Doloran-nii." She said tightening her grip on his shoulders.

"With Ichigo and Doloran? What do you mean." The question confused him. He was their friend, but was there supposed to be something else.

"Left! Dodge! Karin yelled. The giant just managed to dodge the hollows in coming fist, the hollows fist leaving a huge hole in the ground. The hollow quickly attacked again. The giant managed to sense it and jumped out of the way countering with a hit to the hollows arm. The hollow screeched out in pain and landed a hit on the giant before he could move. The hit sent them flying, they landed hard on the ground. Blood flowed from the wound on the giant's head.

"Mister you ok." Karin asked still in his arms. The youth had just managed to place her there before they hit. She could hear her friends yelling at her, asking if she was alright and what happened. They started to come near and Karin yelled for them to run, but her words were too late and the hollow was nearly upon them.

The young giant lay nearly unconscious, memories of his Abuelo and everything he had

taught him ran through his mind. He saw once again how arrogant and stupid he had been. Seeking out fights for no other reason than because he was strong. He remembered being beat up by several men in an alley one day. His Abuelo had found if and stood in the way of the men. They beat him, but no matter how much they beat him he refused to fight back. After the men left his Abuelo bent down in front of him taking hold of his arms. His Abuelo asked what good came from him hurting that which hurt him. He told him that he possessed what most would desire from god. That he was young and strong and that no good could ever come from hurting others.

Chad felt he finally understood what his Abuelo meant. Power coursed through his body has he rose once again. The hollow rushed at them once more. Chad felt his arm changing and when he looked at his arm he saw armor now covered it. On nothing more than instinct he thrust his fist forward and sent a massive wave of energy toward the hollow.

* * *

Doloran was moving swiftly toward Karin when felt a hollow appear near her. His heart sank, worry taking over him. He quickly increased his speed, drawing Souketsu and Sougetsu from his waist not knowing if he would have the time to spare once he got there. He was almost their when he felt another spiritual pressure arrive and it wasn't one he recognized. The park was in his sights, he's heart racing with the prospect of battle. The mix of emotion came that came over him put him in a state of euphoria. He felt alive again, more alive than he had felt in a long time. He had a person to save and possible to targets to fight.

The emotions he was feeling had first showed up the night they fought Gran Fissure. He hadn't realized he was feeling them at the time. The Quincy actions greatly pissed if off, but he couldn't help but admit that he need the fight. He was beginning to fee alive again, to feel needed and felt the need to prove himself again and for once be free of those who had always expected too much.

Reaching the edge of the park he leapt into the air in hope of seeing his opponents and Karin's positions in one go and take them out quickly. What he saw surprised him. He saw his friend Chad with and armored arm protecting Karin. The sight through him he hadn't thought in the least the young giant had any power. Spinning in mid air he lunched himself at the hollow. Planting his feet square in the hollows face he pushed it back with all his might. With a back flip he landed on the ground and moved toward the hollow thrusting his Zanpakuto into the hollow. He pushed off the ground cutting the hollow in half. He turned to see if Chad and Karin wore safe and saw Shadow kneeling next to an unconscious Chad and Karin staring at him.

"Doloran-nii is that you? Who the hell his in your body and what the hell is going on?

Doloran stared at her lost for words. She could see him and knew her eyes weren't deceiving her. He hadn't expected her to be able to see him so clearly. After all it had been only recently the Ichigo had been able to see ghost clearly and he thought it would have taken years for either Karin or Yuzu to be aware of the world around them. "Shadow, take care of them." He said knowing saying as little as possible might be the only way to protect her. "I know you want to know what's going on, but know is not the time. I promise I will tell you, you just have to be patient Karin."

"I trust that you well keep your promise Doloran-nii, but I have to ask, is Ichi-nee like you. I can't help but feel that she is in danger."

Doloran looked at her and although she seemed calm he could see the tale tell signs of her being the exact opposite. It meant the world to him to have her trust him. "She is, but that is a conversation for another time. Stay with Shadow and he will protect you." She looked at first if she would say more, but she simply nodded her head. "Shadow take them to Kisuke's they will be safe there." With a nod from shadow he set of toward another one of Ichigo's friends that he felt was in trouble.

* * *

Rukia was pushing herself hard trying to get to Ichigo. She felt what she had learned from Urahara need to be passed onto her before her impulsiveness caused her to do something she would regret. She would keep most of what she had heard from Urahara to herself, but it had cleared up a lot from what she had learned about Doloran. She had thought there was more to the reasons Central Forty-Six had killed his family and it had been confirmed by Urahara. To know what he had loosed because of decision to save the Quincy race brought for a rage within her. She realized then what extent he would go to fight for her and why he hadn't told Ichigo the full reasons behind his family's death. He wanted her to be free of the consuming anger he had for them and be able to except the Gotei Thirteen.

Rounding a corner Ichigo came into view close behind the Quincy killing every Hollow see came into contact with. "Ichigo!' She turned toward her and quickly made her way toward her. "Rukia did you get Hat n' Clogs help?" Rukia looked her in the eyes dreading her reaction to what Kisuke said she needed to tell her, being mindful of what he said to be quiet about. "Yes I did, but I need to tell you something."

* * *

Doloran stood atop one of the buildings of the school spotting a Hollow attacking one of Ichigo's friends. From his perch he could tell some of the students were being controlled by the Hollow and that one of them was another of Ichigo's friends. Thinking quickly what to do he decided that the control of the students that the Hollow had on them would be released upon the Hollow being killed. Taking one more look to make sure he knew where all the students were he sprung into action.

Landing soundly in front of Inoue Orihime, Doloran knocked out Arisawa Tatsuki catching her he handed her to Inoue and turned toward the Hollow. "Inoue look after your Arisawa, I'll take care of the Hollow you done enough." Doloran said calmly taking a good look at the girl's power. It was strange to say the least, but he had a good idea about what she could do by the feel of it. Letting the information get pushed to the back of his mind he noted he would have to talk to Kisuke about her power. Seeing her nod that she understood what he had said he focused his full attention on the Hollow before them.

The Hollow didn't look at all that particularly strong, if anything it was just above the average Hollow in strength. Taking a firm stance he called out his Zanpakuto. "Reign over the frozen heavens, grant asylum to the innocent in the frozen wastelands, Souketsu Kyuuten Sougetsu Ryuujin. Scatter!" A large cloud of ice appeared around Doloran made up of millions of pieces of tiny ice sharper than a diamond and invisible to the naked eye by themselves. The cloud raced toward the Hollow by an unspoken command from Doloran. As the cloud met the Hollow it screamed out in horror dispersing into spirit particles in the air.

"Well done Doloran, it's seems your powers are returning quite nicely." Doloran turned to see the hat n' Clogged man wearing a huge grin with his eye's hide behind his hat. He also noticed Inoue looked entirely confused. "I suppose you're here to take Inoue to the others?" The Hat n' Clogged man simply nodded. "You should take Arisawa as well Kisuke, I since something in her and I fear she well be dragged into this sooner rather than later." The Hat n' Clogged man looked thoughtful for a moment and once he came up with his replay he raised head so Doloran could see his eyes. "I can do that, but keep in mind Ichigo won't be happy with you at all if Arisawa-san is involved with this before she has powers."

Doloran looked to the ground gathering his thoughts and then looked him in the eye once more. "Then Yoruichi well just have to train her a little harder than see would normally and everyone will just have to keep it from Ichigo until Arisawa can use her powers, whatever they may be. If it comes to her finding out then I'll deal with it.

The Hat n' Clogged man sighed in defeat he knew there was no talking him out of training Arisawa. For all the time he had known Doloran once he made up his mind it was final unless something unforeseen changed what had to be done or the way things had to be done. He was the only person he had seen who could match him at a game of wits and that he wasn't even sure of that. He had always had the feeling that Doloran let him win many of their games. He would never ask him because of the respect he had for the man and that was why he was resigned to do as he asked. Turning to Inoue, Kisuke let the young girl look him in the eye. "Inoue-san I trust you can keep what you have heard to yourself for now and in doing so I'll explain what happened here to you, but you have to come with me."

"Ok." Was all Inoue seemed to be able to say. Doloran was sure that Kisuke hadn't needed to give her an incentive to stay quiet, but he understood why he had. The girl may seem ditzy to must who knew her, but Doloran knew different. She was most definitely the most observant of Ichigo's friends even if others didn't see it and he was sure she understood why it would be bad for her to find out about her friend getting involved to soon.

"Go Doloran, I've got things here. Go help Ichigo."

"Right, I'm counting on you Kisuke."

* * *

Ichigo was at a loss to what to feel. To think they could try and kill an entire race. The shear arrogance that had to have been on both sides to let something like that happen, never was there a reason to destroy and entire race. She felt that there was something that could have been done and now the same people that tried to kill them wanted to take Rukia. She would be damned if it she let that happen and she would be sure that those responsible for the acts against the Quincy, if they were still alive would pay. In the back of her mind she felt that there was more to the story and that Rukia knew what it was and if that was true then she wondered what else there could be that would be so bad for her to not want to tell her about it. She also felt there had to be more to the Quincy's story as well.

Before her thoughts could go any further she saw a Hollow approaching the unsuspecting Quincy. She swiftly cut down the Hollow and grabbed the Quincy by the shoulder penning him to the ground. "Ichigo now is not the time for this!" Rukia yelled in the back ground. Ichigo looked to Rukia, but was unable to say anything, for Doloran just appeared. "Rukia leave her be." Ichigo sent a thankful look toward Doloran before she turned her attention back to the Quincy. "What the hell is wrong with you? I can understand your hate for the soul Reaper's, but to risk the whole down because of it. How can you be so stupid? I'm human you dumbass and Rukia had nothing to do with it."

The Quincy tried to get out of her grip, but she held him harder slamming him to the ground once more. "I don't care about some war. I'm doing this because of my grandfather. He taught me everything and tried to encourage are to races to work together. He fought for it with everything he had and in the end they let him down. He was being attacked and was unable to kill the Hollows. They were monitoring him, they knew his life was in danger and they let him die! That's why I'll prove you Soul Reaper are all the same and are worthless!" He screamed the last part out.

Ichigo's hate for Central Forty-Six was growing by the second. She knew the Soul Reaper's had nothing to do with it. She knew they had to follow orders, but that didn't excuse what happened. The Quincy himself was lost and she knew it. He couldn't see what his grandfather was trying to do and was letting his hate cloud his mind. She tightened her fist hitting him square in the face. "You Fool, you stupid jackass. Do have any idea that your Sofu wouldn't want you to do this. You said yourself that he wanted the Quincy and Soul Reaper to work together and you're doing the opposite."

Doloran looked to the sky feeling uneasy, the others felt it to and did the same. Doloran watched in horror as a Menos Grande stepped out of the sky. Doloran felt a shiver go down his spine, he knew he couldn't risk fighting the Hollow. The sheer power he would need would surely release would alert the Soul Society to his presence. He knew Ichigo and the Quincy would have defeat the Hollow without his help.

"Doloran, what the hell is that?" Ichigo asked pointing to the Menos Grande.

Doloran continued looking at the sky while he answered. "It's Menos Grande, a Gillian class Hollow. It's much stronger than a normal Hollow. The both of you well have to give it your all to beat it. I trust Uryuu that you get the gravity of the situation, you'll have to pull your strength with hers if we are to survive. This is not a fight I can participate in."

Ichigo wasted no time in grabbing the Quincy and headed closer to the Minos. "You can count on us." Rukia turned toward Doloran with a horror stricken face. "You can't be serious Doloran. They can't fight that Hollow alone. I've seen your power, don't just stand there, go help them."

Doloran touched her lightly on the shoulder placing her in a binding spell. "This is a battle I must not fight, even if I have the power. This is a battle for you and for her and it is something they must do. I value all life and I do not wish the Quincy permanent harm, however he has to answer for what he has done." Doloran said with an eerie calm which sent shivers down her spine. Doloran looked to his left hearing someone approach. Kisuke stood with his employee's taking out the remaining Hollows. "I know this is hard for you Doloran, but it must come to pass."

Doloran gave the man a week smile. His control to stay out of the fight even though he knew he must was hanging by a thread. "Rukia I sent you to Kisuke's not because we needed his help, but because I wanted you to hear my story from him, because I wanted you to understand who and what I am. There are things going on that you cannot even begin to fathom. I wanted you to know what I sacrificed and what Ichigo may have to face. Her family is everything and it is to me as well, you Rukia are a part of what I cherish."

Rukia was unsure how to feel about what he was saying. She was unnerved by him saying that Ichigo might have to face some of the things he had, what they had in common in their pasts was all ready heavy. "The coming storm is not going to be easy. You are going to learn things about us that are not going to make others happy in the least. There is a cancer in Soul Society that must be cut away and you are a part of it. You know that I will fight for you and that Ichigo will fight for you and know that whatever happens we will save you and stand by your side."

* * *

Ichigo friends stood with her sister on the bridge overlooking the battle. The all had there on opinions about what they had been told, but one stood out with them all. They would support Ichigo, Doloran and Rukia in any way they could.

Karin looked on at her Sister and the man she had learned to call brother. She had a mix of emotions running through her, but one stood out and that was pride in the ones she called family. She understood know what they did. Even at nine she was very observant and intelligent. She remembered the night at the cemetery and she hadn't forgotten what happened or what she saw. She knew the people walking around in her sister and brother's bodies at times weren't them. She was relieved to know what they had been doing and she wasn't mad, she knew that she was too young to fight, but she would help them nonetheless.

Chan looked on with pride as well and knew he would fight by their side. He would keep the promise he had made to Ichigo and would extent it to Doloran. Orihime and Tatsuki made the choice that would fight as well. Orihime made a silent promise to herself and Ichigo that she would overcome her fear and fight with all see could. Tatsuki was seething that Ichigo hadn't told her about what was going on. She had thought see would have trusted her enough to tell her oldest friend what she had been doing and not call her crazy, but she would fight by her side. That didn't mean she didn't have a few choice words for her.

They all looked on with pride and prayed for their safety. None of them saw the black cat watching them in approval.

* * *

The Quincy stared at the Menos with little fear. The day's events replaying through his head, how stupid he had been. He had let his anger cloud what his Sofu had taught him and because of that he was facing a creature that could destroy them all and to make it even worse he was fighting alongside a Soul Reaper. She had made good points and he was rethinking his view on how he felt about her and the Soul Reaper.

Ichigo looked at the Minos with uncertainty, not sure they could defeat it. She took some comfort in the fact that Doloran felt they could defeat it, but it wasn't much. "_Ichigo why do you fear? I stand beside you always, my power is yours to call upon." _Ichigo was slightly socked to hear Zangetsu. She still had not got used to another voice in her head. "Master Zangetsu. What would you have my do? I have yet to face something like this." Her unease seeping through her words with her replay to her Zanpakuto. _"Stand and fight. Abandon your fear, don't give an inch. Advance, never stop, if you retreat you will age. Be afraid and you'll die." _Her Zanpakuto giving her strength and resolve she started off toward the Hollow calling out her Zanpakuto. "Descend from the moon and pierce the heavens, Zangetsu." Her simple Odachi grew into and over grown cleaver.

The Quincy looked on at her blade surprised she was able to release it and realizing she was more than a mere substitute. He was also surprised she still at the energy to release it. Realizing she was going on without him, he ran after her. "Hey what hell do you think you're doing, you can't fight that thing alone."

Ichigo stopped and turned toward the Quincy with a deep scowl. "You've do enough today. I'll take it from here." The Quincy was about to replay to her comment when they felt a huge pressure bear down on them. Looking to the Hollow he felt fear.

* * *

Rukia felt horror like she had never felt before. The Hollow was charging a cero and the pressure from it was like nothing she had felt before, but perhaps what Doloran had released the night at the cemetery. "Doloran you have to help them, there is no way they can survive that."

Kisuke Urahara was the one to answer her. "Kuchiki-san they we'll be fine, just watch." Doloran looked on feeling heavy hoping he was doing the right thing.

* * *

The Menos released the cero and before the Quincy could even react Ichigo stepped in front of the Hollow and held the cero at bay. He shivered when he felt her Spiritual pressure rise far beyond what he believed she was capable of.

Ichigo stood under the force of the attack. Gathering all her remaining energy she focused it into her blade. "Getsuga Tenshou!" she yelled releasing all the energy in her Zanpakuto obliterating the Hollow's cero perching its head killing it. Relief washed over her as she washed the Hollow disappear and they others felt the same relief wash over them.

* * *

That's the end read and review please.


	9. Soul Society's Arrival

The Black Flame and the Frozen Wasteland

Summary:

A soul reaper long thought dead turns up in Karakura town the night of the attack on the Kurosaki family. Who is this new Reaper and what does he want, who are his allies and what does his return to mean for them all. A femIchi Fic

DSF- man it seemed like it took me forever to get this chapter out.

Sougetsu- That happens when you have writers block.

DSF – Well it a lot easier to create Zanpakuto and have ideas for your story than it his to actually write it.

Souketsu – If you didn't slack off you would have had it out earlier.

DSF- Hey I wasn't slacking off. I was putting together my new story for Stargate.

Sougetsu – It still took your attention from this story and don't forget you have people to thank.

DSF – "Right you are. dasw15 and RockStar-DJ-Girl thank you very much for adding this story to your alerts and thank you very much RockStar-DJ-Girl and The romantic insanity for adding this story on your Fav's list. Sougetsu, Souketsu the disclaimer please."

Souketsu and Sougetsu – DSF does not own Bleach. That honor belongs to Tite Kubo. He does own us and any of his other OC's. Enjoy this chapter and we would appreciate it you guys who like Stargate to check out his new Fic.

* * *

Chapter 9: Soul Society's Arrival

Doloran woke to a cool breeze and could fell the covers were pulled down, he reached for the covers intending to pull them back around himself when he realized Ichigo was no longer by his side. At first he thought nothing of it and until he had spread is spiritual sense outward to check and she if she was sleeping ok. He found her not to be in her bed or even in the house and it wasn't just her either, Rukia was gone as well. He sprung into action immediately, knowing that Ichigo had done what he had told her not do, she was going after Rukia. He removed himself from his body with his energy alone, not wanting to waste time. In a few short movements he was out the window expanding his senses looking for the two.

Luck seemed to be against him at first. There seemed to be no sign of them what so ever. Then a faint feeling of familiarity came over him and he recognized it as Ichigo's spiritual pressure. Worry took hold almost instantly. He recognized the faint change her power went under when she released Zangetsu and quickened his pace. He knew it couldn't be good if she was already releasing him so soon. She had grown quite strong in the past couple of weeks and he could see no reason why she would have to release when she held the power to go up against a low level Fuku-Taicho, unless they had been so bold as to send a Taicho to retrieve a non seated soul reaper with a higher power level Fuku-Taicho.

The location of her battle was fast approaching, he stilled himself. He didn't know whether to feel pissed that she hadn't listened to him or worry for her safety, when he knew without a doubt that a Taicho was most likely present. He could feel the Quincy their as well and it only strengthened his worry and need to intervene. With one last flash step he arrived to see a red headed soul reaper swing his Zanpakuto at Ichigo. Afraid that she wouldn't make it out of the way in time he lunched himself in front the soul reapers blade blocking it with his own. Sparks flew across his face, the red haired soul reaper wavered in surprise of his arrival. He took the opportunity to strike back at the soul reaper driving him back. He glanced out of the corner of his eye to make sure Ichigo was ok. Upon finding that she was his attention turned toward the other soul reaper present.

He wasn't pleased in the least about what he was seeing, the man was indeed a Taicho and he was sure the night wouldn't end well. It took him all of two seconds to realize that the man was a noble and Rukia's brother. He was certain it was some kind of sick joke on the traitor's part. The noble looked at him as if to size him up and then looked to his Fuku-Taicho seemingly content to see what would happen. The red haired Fuku-Taicho's face hardened and he lunged forward. Doloran matched his blade and once again sent him back, not giving the Fuku-Taicho any room he struck out toward the man's brow. His attack was blocked once more pushing his opponent back again.

The Fuku-Taicho seemingly lost control as he lunched himself at Doloran again releasing his sword. Doloran dodged his first blow and side-stepped his second and barley blocked his third blow receiving a sallow cut on his cheek. The Fuku-Taicho looked at first as if he would attack again, but instead he Spock to Doloran fuming. "Who the hell are you and what squad are you from? This is official soul reaper business, if you're not involved in this then report back to your squad."

Doloran almost laughed at the absurdness of the Fuku-Taicho's comments and questions. He was a loss as to what to thank, no one from his time, especially a Fuku-Taicho would have taken his line of thinking. "I belong to no squad and as to who I am, that's none of your concern."

The Fuku-Taicho's features darkened and he looked as if he might attack again. The Taicho raised one eye brow seemingly interested. Doloran looked to Rukia, she looked terrified over the turn of events and he couldn't blame her, she was well aware of is power. At the end she would have to go back to Soul Society, but that didn't mean he wouldn't leave both soul reapers leaving with their tales between their legs beaten and bloody if it came to it. "And what makes you think I can't beat it out of you?"

"You don't have the power to beat out of me as you say. Even if you released Gentei kaijo you wouldn't have the power Fuku-Taicho to take me down."

"What is it you want and if you do have that kind of power what stopping you from using it and more importantly if you would end up letting us go do you think Soul Society would let you run around with all that power?" Doloran wasn't surprised in the least at the Taicho's remarks, however it meant all that he had learned had changed from his contact had indeed happened. That was a very bad thing, they would be hard pressed to fight off the traitors and the army he was sure they had and he was quite sure the oldest Taicho's, the ones he knew wouldn't risk fighting the traitor and his army at full strength when that power was so destructive. It certainly would end the war before it began, but he also knew they wouldn't risk sacrificing the lives that were sure to get caught up in the crossfire and neither would he.

"I want you to leave with Rukia before anyone else gets hurt and to tell the Soutaichou I'm coming for her."

"What makes you think we'll just leave? The girl took Rukia's power and she can't get hers back unless the girl dies." The Fuku-Taicho said with anger.

"The girl hasn't any of Rukia's power residing in her anymore and the fact that you think she needs to die to get her power back just goes to show how little you know about the powers of a soul reaper. I see no reason why you would care when I'm sure you're going to kill her anyway." Doloran hadn't told Ichigo that part in fear she would do just this and he could feel her anger radiating from her body from where she stood behind him. He hoped she would follow his lead and not attack them further endangering her further. He noticed the Taicho's raised eyebrow. He took it the Taicho knew he spoke the truth.

The Fuku-Taicho face contorted and he looked to strike, but spoke instead. "Who are you to lecture me and there's no way….."

"That's quite enough Renji." The Taicho said placing his hand on the Fuku-Taicho's shoulder. "The man is quite right, she well be executed for her crimes." He said turning his attention back to Doloran. "I well do as you say, but you still haven't told me who you are so the Soutaichou well know for whom I speak. Do not take it as a sign I trust you, however I am wise enough to realize that you have no reason to deceive us if you are willing to let us take her and if you want the Soutaicho to know of your presence than that leads me to believe something is amiss."

Doloran was surprised at the Taicho's remarks, it showed that no all of them were brainless. That however didn't insure that the Taicho would stay out of his way, but he would make sure of it. "Tell him my message and then tell him the red dragon and his companion the blue dragon have returned and one more thing Taicho. I hope that if you happen to figure out who I am, because I'm sure you'll search your records, I would hope your noble honor well refrain you from speaking of me to anyone else other than the Soutaichou." Rukia gave him an odd look her suspicions of his standing were confirmed.

"Very well, I'll keep that in mind. Come Renji, Rukia." With that the Taicho turned opening a Senkaimon preparing to leave. Doloran looked at the Taicho once more. "I'll hold you to that Kuchiki Byakuya and one more thing, while trying to find out who I am look up the history of situations such as these. I think you'll find it enlightening." The Taicho gave no sign that he had heard him, but Doloran was sure he had. Ichigo grabbed Doloran by the arm as they left, her temper rising. She hadn't forgot what he told her they must do, she couldn't except it and that was why she had done what she had, her resolve had melted away as he arrived. Anger now filled her and not just toward Doloran, but at herself as well for allowing herself to falter and let Rukia leave with the two soul reapers.

He looked at her with sorrow, he hated doing what he had, but knew it was essential if the living world and soul society were to survive. He knew he had hurt her trust and she had every right to be mad at him for what she knew about what was going on. His heart ached greatly for what he had not told her and even though many of the things he hadn't told her about had been under Isshin's wishes. He had respected the man's wishes as if they had been orders and took it to heart, yet he now wished he hadn't made such promises. He loved her, even if he wasn't sure what kind of love it was and that made it all the more painful. He wasn't sure if he could continue lying to her when it so greatly hurt.

The whole family meant so much to him, but as it was some part of him wished he had just strode into Soul Society and wiped the traitor off the face of the earth regardless of what would have happened to him, even if he himself would have been labeled a traitor and either been put to death or maybe he could have escaped. The thought even if it may have worked wasn't an option now. The family and more importantly Ichigo meant too much to him. He looked at her once more, looking straight into her eyes. He removed his gaze from her and looked at his feet. "I am truly sorry Ichigo, more than you may ever know. I promise you on my soul that I will save her. That being said, the battle for her freedom cannot be fought here in the living world. The battle must be fought in Soul Society for her freedom to be guaranteed. We must have faith in the way things must be done and I ask you Ichigo with all my heart to trust in what I believe must be done. Hate me for it if you feel you must, but don't think I throw away your scrutiny without thinking upon it."

Ichigo let go of him and looked to her feet as he had. She wasn't sure how to feel now, as much as she wished not to trust what he was saying she couldn't. Her faith in him was too unshakable. She knew him to well to think he would put her in any unnecessary danger and she knew he cared for her to much to let harm come to her.

Silence hung over them, neither spoke nor moved. It was if the tension could be cut with a knife. Doloran made his way over to the unconscious Quincy and began to heal him. They were so enthralled in their own thoughts neither felt that another person was present for the whole altercation. The person was none other than Urahara Kisuke. "Well done you two. You both made it out alive and in one piece." The Hat N' clogged man said with his trademark smile.

Ichigo looked to the man with contempt, furious once more. She couldn't believe the nerve of the man, to smile with what had happened and seem unfazed by the events of the night. She had been about to scold the man when he spoke once more. "Take to heart what he said Kurosaki-san. The fight must be fought there; too much is at stake to fight the battle here." Her temper quelled somewhat, she turned her gaze to the Quincy. Doloran had healed his injuries, but he was still unconscious. Doloran picked him up and turned toward Ichigo and Kisuke. "I suggest we head to your shop Kisuke. I believe there is someone there who wishes to speak to Ichigo and she needs to learn the truth if she if going to go any farther.

Ichigo was thoroughly confused as to who could be at the Shoten who would wish to speak to her and furthermore she felt no one there other than the normal inhabitants. Kisuke on the other hand felt who was there and his eye widened. Ichigo hadn't missed it and became confused further by the man reaction knowing he rarely ever showed his surprise leading her to believe that the person in question hide their spiritual pressure well. Kisuke had many emotions and feelings running through his mind. He had thought the person in question had decided admittedly against revealing himself for fear of what it could do, but yet he was at his shop.

Kisuke nodded to Doloran and they made their way to the Shoten. Kisuke couldn't clear his mind, fear gripped him tightly. Fear that he and Doloran had angered him in same way as to Ichigo's training and her actions tonight were the last tug need to break the line. He himself believed they had done everything they could to prepare her for what was ahead. He wouldn't admit it openly, but without Doloran he wasn't sure he could have got her to the point they had together. All throughout the training Doloran had been her pillar of strength. He was well aware that she hadn't a clue of what was really going on between the two. He was sure she had some idea of his influence on her, but he knew her and maybe even Doloran had no idea what so ever was developing between them. That alone brought him endless supply of teasing material to use in them both.

The more and more he thought about it he couldn't figure out what possibly they could have done wrong and then it donned on him and he felt even more uneasy than before. It was ludicrous to think that the man would want to reveal himself to her this early simply to do it. He believed she wasn't ready in the least to have that knowledge and if he didn't reveal all the truth than she would most likely never trust Doloran again or at least never to the point she did now, but then the three of them had talked at length about when the best time for her to learn the truth would be. Doloran held that see needed to know before they went to Soul Society on the basis that he would have to tell at least the oldest four who see was and that she was not to be referred to as a substitute soul reaper. He had also made the point that if the traitors knew the truth of her origins she could easily be manipulated. Now it seemed that the conversation didn't matter anymore.

Doloran was faring far better than Kisuke. He felt a sense of relief come over him knowing that Ichigo could finally learn the true and he wouldn't have to lie to her. He knew she might be made at him for some time, but he knew she would understand in the end why he did what he had. She would undoubtedly be pissed that he felt a need to protect her and that it would make her feel weak. He believed her to be strong, stronger than he believed he would have been deal with everything that had happened since that faithful night. Her strength was amazing and not in the sense of physical strength, but rather in heart. She excepted events as they were and strove to do all see could to become stronger, not just for herself but for those around her and he had no doubt in his mind she was ready to know the truth.

Ichigo followed the two in silence. The behavior of Kisuke troubled her, she had never known the man to be so nervous, his ever action screamed it to the world. She let her gaze fall on Doloran and saw a genuine smile on his face, something that didn't happen often. Whatever was to come she was sure it was to be interesting. Her anger at the two now was no more. She could tell that Doloran was greatly relieved about something by the feel of his spiritual pressure, which had been brushing up against hers since they left the battlefield.

Reaching the Shoten they put Uryuu in room and Doloran cast a Kidou on him to keep asleep then they made their way to the sitting area and Ichigo felt like her heart had stopped. Sitting there waiting for them was her father clad in a shihakushō wearing a Zanpakuto and a smile. She was unable to breath, to think all this time he had been a Soul Reaper and he hadn't told her. So many questions came to mind and she had no idea had to ask them. She felt Doloran take hold of her and ease her down into a sitting position beside him at the table giving her a reassuring look. She knew by the way he was acting he knew all about her father before she did.

She remembered him saying there were some things he couldn't talk about and she wondered if this was why. She wondered if this was what had still seemed to be eating him up inside and if so why did her father carry so much respect in Doloran that he wouldn't say anything. She noticed Hat n' Clogs bringing in tea and she realized she hadn't seen him leave. Finally able to breathe again she looked at Doloran seeing a pleading in his eye for what she could only assume he hoped she wasn't mad at him. She would wait and see why he had done what he had and what her father had before she decided if she was mad at either of them.

Doloran felt some relief flood into him as he realized she wasn't outright furious with him for knowing, he was sure at least of that she could tell he knew that much. He could tell she was breathing again and he was trying to convey through his eyes as much as he could that she needed to stay calm and listen to what they had to say. She gave him a small nod in understanding and he thankful for her understanding. He turned his attention to Isshin waiting for him to speak and Ichigo did as well.

Isshin had watched the whole exchange between them with joy, he was glad he could see how they reacted around each other when they weren't around the twins and were in the world that the excelled in. He was very happy with what he was seeing. Kisuke had been keeping him apprised of how her training with Doloran had been going and how they acted around each other, but Kisuke didn't give it justice. They seemed to play off each other very well and seemed to gain strength just by being with each other. Yes he would enjoy watching them in the coming years and who knew it could even be the coming months.

He glanced at Kisuke when he came in and he almost thought he saw him flinch. He almost laughed at the man, for all he knew he probably thought he was here to yell or maim him because he thought he had done something wrong. He figured if anyone did any maiming it would be Ichigo. He hoped she wouldn't hold anything against Doloran for what he had done. Now that he thought about it perhaps he should have ordered it so she wouldn't have any reason to be mad at him for what he did. He knew she could be head strong and not think things through before she acted and that was not something they needed tonight, what he had to say would be hard enough.

Looking in her eyes he sighed and began what need to be said. "Ichigo I wanted to tell you for so long what I was, but I feared even though you could see sprits you wouldn't believe me or you would distance yourself even more form us." He started as calmly as he was able watching his daughter intently. "I know you probably have a lot of questions and I well answer them, but let me tell you my story first, if that's alright with you."

Still not being able to find her voice he she simply nodded. They were all grateful she was willing to listen to his story first. "Some of what I am going to tell you will be socking, but I assure you it's true. I was born four hundred years ago to the royal family of Soul Society." Isshin was about to continue when Ichigo finally spoke. "Were royalty, but how can be here, from what Rukia and Doloran have told me the royal family resides in the royal dimension and if by some reason we are why would soul Society let us stay here?"

Isshin sighed, he had hoped she would stay quiet, but then it is quite a shock to learn you royalty when your been living the simple life of a human. "Yes we are and the reason as to why we are here and why Soul society has left us alone will be clear when my story is done. I promise it well all be clear. Just please let me get through it." He paused once more to see her node again and then continued. "I lived at the palace in the royal dimension for one hundred and fifty years until I grew bored with life and decided I wished to go to Souls Society and my Otou-san let me go on one condition, I had to have a guard. That guard was Doloran. My Otou-san had seen his academy entrance exam results and was highly impressed with his abilities and intelligence. So he knew since he was the Soutaichou's Mago(grandson, I think) I would be heavily guarded and safe. It helped that I was also around Urahara Kisuke, Shihoin Yoruichi, Ukitake Jūshirō, Kyoraku Shunsui and Unohana Retsu and that my Otou-san trusted them all and their families. The heads of the clans and those closest to Doloran were the only ones who knew of my identity." Isshin paused once again to take a sip of tea and clear his throat.

"Once we had all had gone through the academy we were all made Taicho's. Doloran also was made head of the guard by my Otou-san and met all the rest of the guard. Central Forty-Six was never informed of his real rank and that's why they despised him so much for the power that he possessed. There's not much to add to what Doloran probably told you about his past, we were all friends and all did are duty." Isshin paused once again watching Ichigo closely and was happy that she to see she was taking it better than expected. He had thought about telling her about their part in the Quincy war, but knew Doloran hadn't told her about it because he didn't want her to thank badly about soul Society as a whole since it was their part in it that led to his family's death and his Otou-san's loss of sanity.

Ichigo was starting wonder why Doloran hadn't told her he knew Hat n' Clogs from the Academy and who he this Yoruichi was. She also wondered why her dad was here and why Doloran seemed tense. It was if he felt guilty about what was to come. Her father looked at her again and began once more. "After Doloran left us I stayed for years helping rebuild Soul Society and I enjoyed my time their greatly. Around a hundred and fifty years ago everything changed. Two major events happened that changed my life, Kisuke's and many others."

Isshin took a deep breath while a signal tear ran down his face. Kisuke held a grave expression and Doloran's spiritual pressure radiated loss. It was so heavy that Ichigo felt the pressure on her lungs. "The first was the death of the entire royal family except for me and I only survived because no one knew I was part of the royal family except for those who would never give it up." Isshin stopped when he heard Ichigo gasp.

Ichigo was once again at a loss for words. The tears came and she grabbed hold of Doloran's hand and leaned into him. He took his arm and wrapped it around her taking hold of her shoulder lightly squeezing it. She couldn't believe she had family that she would never meet because they had been murdered. It put things in perspective, she was truly thankful for what she had and had been given. It felt like forever that they sat in silence. No one moved and they let Ichigo take what time she needed to process what she had heard and grieve for family she would never have or ever meet.

Doloran let a rare tear fall. He had heard the story from Isshin the first morning he was hear and he hadn't really had time to grieve. They hadn't been his family, but he had known them all and loved them just the same. He realized now the reason why Isshin had always seen him as a son, as family. He had always been distant from his father and he was really never there. He had his mother and even his grandfather, but do to his duties he always seemed to be around Isshin and his family the most and that made it all the harder.

Once Ichigo had calmed down Isshin started again. "I didn't know until later that the man that led the people who killed my family was the father of the traitor that led to Kisuke and his friends and the others exile. The one guardsman whom made it out alive took the leaders life and informed me of their deaths and that it had been one of our own men that had let the group into the royal realm. I quickly told my friends what happened and informed Doloran's grandfather what happened and told him I would be going into hiding until I was sure that my life wasn't in danger anymore. The Soutaicho made me king and I left for the living would, but only after I had told the last guard to build a new palace in Soul Society and rebuild the guard. I also told her that I would be in contact with her."

Ichigo felt rage fill her, to thank that one of the people whom were supposed to protect her family had been their killers. She wished with all her heart she could go back in time and kill the bastard responsible for it all. Then she thought about how her dad must feel about all this, she could see the pain in his eyes and realized that he had known them and the that pain she felt must be insignificant compared to his. She wondered if Doloran had known them and if they were family to him to, it was clear he and her father were close. So had he seen them as family to, had he lost more than she had thought?

She looked at her dad and said what she felt she had to. "Otou-san, I know I can never know what you must feel and that I never knew them, but I'm sorry that you had to lose them." His face softened and another tear escaped his eyes. "My daughter you have nothing to be sorry for. I wish the three of you could have met them, I wish your mother could have met them, but that is not to be. I grieved a long time ago and even when I told your mother. Feel what you must for their passing and lean on Doloran if you have to, but never feel guilty for something that was out of your control." Isshin gave her a small smile.

Ichigo looked at Doloran and asked him what she hated to ask. "Doloran did you know them and if you did, when did you find out?" He looked her in the eye and to a deep breath. "Yes Ichigo I knew them and they were like family to me to. I didn't find out until I got back, the morning after in fact." Ichigo threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. "I'm sorry you had to lose even more people that you saw as family." He laid his head on hers. "Ichigo as your Otou said you have nothing to be sorry for and you helped me plenty that night I told you my past."

Isshin and Kisuke sat in silence giving them what time they needed. Isshin looked at Kisuke asking silently if he would continue from where he left off and tell the other major event. Kisuke nodded his head and they turned their attention back to Ichigo. Once she and Doloran focused their attention back to them Kisuke began his story. "Not long after your Otou left for the living world, the son of the traitor whom killed his family set his sights on the Taicho's after he realized his Otou-san's plan had failed. At the time I had been working on a way to strengthen Soul Reapers faster and stronger than normal. I was able to create an object that did just that. The object I created allowed for the breaking down of the barrier between the realms of the Soul reaper and Hollow allowing for the either to have the powers of the other."

Ichigo had a feeling where the story was going next and it left her uneasy. Doloran was trying to stay as calm as he could, he knew what Kisuke was going to talk about and it was going drag all his demons out of the closet. He feared that Ichigo would connect the dots and figure out what truly lay deep within his soul. Kisuke started again and he put his thoughts to the back of his mind unaware that Isshin was worried how he would take hearing of them once again knowing he faced what they had to some extent.

"I quickly realized what it was I created and that it was a mistake. It was never my intention to create what I had, so I tried to destroy it and failed. The traitor had been doing Hollowfication experiments and found out what I had created. He used a virus on several Taicho and Fuku-Taicho and blamed me and Tessai for it in an attempt to get the object. His plain worked, except he didn't get the object and Tessai and I were charged with crime and convicted. We along with those who were infected were sentenced to execution. With Yoruichi's help we escaped to the real world and stabilized the Taicho's and Fuku-Taicho's."

Kisuke stopped there and Isshin picked up the story up where he left off. "Once I learned about what had happened to Kisuke and the others I helped them as much as I could once they got here. I helped Kisuke build the Shoten and I ended up staying here with them, life returned to being quite quiet." Isshin paused feeling the Quincy was awake and trying to listen to the conversation from the other side of the door and from the looks on Doloran and Kisuke's faces they knew he was there to. They both waited to see if Isshin would do anything. Ichigo seemed oblivious to his presence too engrossed in her own thoughts. "Then about twenty years ago I met your mother and the rest is history.

Ichigo sighed, it certainly was a lot to take in and she wasn't really sure what to think. She knew for sure she wasn't mad at Doloran or her father. They had good reason after all to hide what they did, they may have not said outright what their reasons were, but she wasn't nearly as dense as people believed she was and she had a pretty good idea what their reasons were. She would bet her life that Doloran was the one who wanted tell her this now rather than later and it would explain why he seemed so relieved when he felt her father at the Shoten.

She wondered exactly what kind of relationship Doloran and her father had. She was sure that he now saw him as a son and it seemed Doloran had in fact accepted it, but what about when he had come back. She never once saw him grovel before her father and in fact he had hit him just as much as she had for some of his comments. Her father had said and even Doloran had confirmed that her family was a family to him as well, but neither of them had said exactly what they were to each other back then. Her father had time over the years to begin to feel differently toward him, but Doloran had really only been gone a few short years and during his absence he had said he had locked all his emotions away. Was there so much respected between them that Doloran had never seen him as a prince or future king. She finally decided she would just ask Doloran when they were alone.

She had to wonder though what their next move was, going to soul Society was a given, but what about after. She realized that if her father was still here and hadn't told a least the Soutaicho were he was, than their enemy was a conning enemy indeed. So then she was sure her father would have them go in as Ryoka and create havoc until the traitor's reviled themselves, but what then, did they just leave without saying anything. She was sure something at least would be said. She was sure Doloran wouldn't let them label her a substitute soul reaper. One thing she knew for sure she wanted to ask about and that was her mom.

Doloran watched her closely wondering just what was going through her head. He was glad that she had taken it so well, he had no doubt that she was would have freaked out if it hadn't been for his and even Rukia influence on her. She really had a maturity level far beyond her years. He was glad she did and he knew it would only grow in the coming months. She had changed so much, she was no longer the child scared to let anyone in. she had grown in these past few months into a young women deserving of her station and he was sure that she would give Soul Society absolute hell and he was looking forward to every minute of it.

He was glad that she wasn't much for honorifics, not that she wouldn't use them if necessary. She just had to have a great deal of respect for the person in question. Her growth so far had surprised him and he was sure that if kept putting as much into her training as she had been than he was sure everything would go fine. The only thing that really bothered him though and that was the twins. They at the moment were powerless to do anything to protect themselves and he greatly worried that they would be targeted. That was the reason he had told Kisuke to train Karin with the others. He knew she wouldn't be ready for the trip to Soul Society and he wouldn't want her to be anywhere near the traitor's, but she would be ready when they got back to train with them, that he was sure of. He was aware that Kisuke had talked to Isshin and that she was to be turned into a Soul Reaper while they were gone if he and Isshin thought she was ready and he just wished he could be there when she and Yuzu learned of everything because he was sure that they were going to give goat-face hell.

Kisuke had in fact been thinking about said twins training as well not worried at all about how Ichigo would take the news. She was young even by Ichigo and Doloran and that presented a problem for them. She would go through what Doloran had as far as his training with his grandfather and he was sure that Doloran would push her just as hard as he had been by his grandfather. He fully understood what Doloran was trying to do, that's not to say he didn't have his reservations. He was unsure she could handle it, but then she was a Kurosaki.

Isshin sat in silence watching everyone in the room satisfied with how things had gone so far. She was taking everything quite well, he was just worried about what would happen after she and the Quincy heard what was to come next. He turned his attention to Ichigo and Doloran once more and had to fight back a chuckle. They still hadn't moved away from each other and he wondered if they even realized they were still that close. They were both private people and they generally never let anyone get that close. They were both the best of friends and were pushing past the border of friends without really realizing it.

He couldn't be prouder of either of them more. The both were doing so well with everything being thrown at them and he had absolutely no doubt whatsoever that they would continue to take everything head on, with a level head of course, if Doloran had anything to say about it.

He was truly happy to see them doing so well. In fact he had been quite worried about how Doloran would deal with everything after had learned the whole story. His fear had been so much greater for Doloran than his fear had been for Ichigo. Doloran had been quiet for the most part when he had come back and it had worried Isshin that he would wander down a dark path. It had been quite obvious to the father of three that he had looked away everything for a long time and held that it would come back to bit him in the ass, hence the dark path he had believed he might take. He had thought at first it was simply his oath that he had taken that had prevented that path, but now he realized that had been the actions of Ichigo and his ability to see the similarities between them that had been his salvation. He had to thank whatever greater power there was that had brought him back not just for the sake of the worlds, but for the sake of his daughter and most importantly Doloran himself.

He brought himself out of his own thoughts when he sensed his daughter and now son looking at him. Ichigo held a pensive look even thought she was stared her father down. Doloran on the other hand just looked like he didn't know what to think and he thought he saw quite a bit of relief. While she stared at her father she asked the one straight forward question in her mind and she realized it was the only one that she really cared about at the moment. "So Oyaji did I get my powers to see pulse souls from you or was mom spiritually aware and if she was did she have her own powers?"

"Yes Ichigo your mother was in fact spiritually aware and to the second part of your question, I can tell you your mother's maiden name was Masaki Ishida." Isshin literally counted to three and then three things happened at once. Doloran who knew nothing of the truth of his wife's heritage was left gaping like a fish unable to think anything else or say anything. Uryuu busted through the sliding door falling over in front of them all. Ichigo looked at Uryuu then her father and then all three yelled what.

Doloran was the first to recover from their stupor and quickly grasped Ichigo to keep her from lunching herself at her father. Uryuu on the other hand sat up and proceeded to launch himself in deep thought trying to find something to disprove of the soul reapers words. Kisuke had an amused look on his face and was barely holding in his laughter. Isshin to his credit kept a straight face waiting for her next comment knowing it was sure to come although he felt sorry for Doloran quite sure that he would soon feel his daughter's wrath.

Ichigo wanted to beat her father for even suggesting she was related to that pompous ass Quincy. "There is no way in hell I'm related to him" She yelled pointing to the Uryuu. "No one in our family would be stupid enough to use hollow bait and more importantly no one in are family is that lame." She said rather smugly.

Said Quincy wasted no time in glaring at her. "Ya well no one in my family would want to be around soul reapers" He stated like it was fact. Ichigo's replay came swiftly. "There you go again being an idiot, your grandfather worked with soul reaper." She said turning her attention to Doloran. "Let me go or else, I will only tell you once."

Doloran paid her threat no mind. "I will be happy to let you go when you stop acting like a child." I took no longer than for those words to leave his mouth for him to end up on the floor do to a reiatsu infused kick to the leg. Ichigo then stood over the Quincy glaring at him, leaving Doloran on the floor trying to heal his leg; everyone thought they heard a sickening crunch from when she hit him. Kisuke pulled his hat over his eye's and looked to the floor trying desperately to hold in his laughter. Isshin wore amused smile until he felt Ichigo ready a reiatsu infused hand for what he assumed was meant for the Quincy. "Ichigo that's enough, sit down!"

She did as he told never hearing her father quite like she just had. Gone was his goofiness, his attention solely on his daughter and his voice a tone she had never heard before. She could swear she felt his seriousness even in reiatsu. Doloran was next to her instantly it seemed and his leg to her senses looked and felt healed and the expression on his face told her that he had indeed heard her father talk like he just had in the past. See that everyone's attention was back on him Isshin started again in an attempt to save everyone any further headache. "Ichigo your mother was very much a Quincy and I have no doubt my Otou-san and others if they were still alive would disapprove, however I fell in love with her knowing full well what she was without any regret and I would do it again. Uryuu." He said making sure he had the boy's attention. "She was your Otou-san's sister and the reason why you have never heard of her is something you will have to confront him with, I don't wish to be on even worse terms with him. Just know that she loved you and your Otou very much as she you Ichigo and the twins and me."

He paused to let his words seep in. At first he had thought about reprimanding Ichigo for almost hitting her cousin, but thought it better to just tell them as much as he could about her as it would not be good after all she had heard to be yelled at as well. "I know you're not going to like this, but you need to hear, both of you. When you were born Ichigo, Maskai decided that she wanted to give hunting hollows for your safety and had taken off her Quincy cross. She never thought that you would be the spiritual magnet that you ended up being and she gave her life to save you. I tried so desperately to make it to you that night but was unable to. I felt like I lost both of you that night, you closed yourself off after her death and you refused to talk to any of us. I fear what Maskai would do if she knew that the world that took her was the one that had finally brought you out of your shell and allowed you once again to be happy." The last part was chocked out, I single tear escaped his eyes. Ichigo was also on the verge of losing it once again and Uryuu just didn't know how to feel.

Doloran laid his hand on Ichigo's shoulder and pinned Isshin with a look. "Isshin you told me I was a part of this family so I will tell as a part of this family that it wasn't either of your faults as it wasn't mine. We cannot change the past, but we can remember her and fight in her honor. The Hollow responsible for her death as been taken care of and there is no reason for any of us to carry guilt over her death any longer." He said what he felt he had to then looked to the ground once again removing his hand from her shoulder not wanting anyone to see his resolve in shreds. He hoped that they could move on to something else not sure how much more they all could take.

Uryuu for his part was holding it together and he was also sure that at one point he could swear that he had heard his grandfather speak of him having and aunt. His father was in for one long conversation with him and he be damned if he let get out of it. He could find no fault in what this Soul Reaper, no man and family had said. He was resolved to see what else was said and was starting to wonder if they had known he was there and wonder how he had strayed from his grandfathers teaching so badly.

Isshin almost couldn't believe what Doloran had said. Had the young man really shed his guilt or was he just trying to be strong for them all in their moment of weakness. He was proud of the young man and knew that bringing him into the family was the right thing to do.

Ichigo seemed to finally let everything sink in and she felt at peace. There were still things that she wanted to question, but her heart was at ease. She wasn't really sure how to feel about the Quincy, but if he was family then she would give him a chance. She had some comfort in the fact that it seemed Doloran had been just as oblivious to her mother's statues as she had been. She wanted to know why exactly her father had kept it from her and that their mother had family, but she got the feeling that she wouldn't get that answer with the Quincy there.

It seemed like hours that they sat there in silence and it was Kisuke who finally spoke. "I think it would be best if we got some sleep, it's late and we start training tomorrow. Ichigo, Doloran, Isshin has brought you some cloths from your house since you'll be staying here until you go to Soul Society. Ishida-san you are welcome to stay here unless of course you wish to go home?" The Hat n' Clogged man asked.

"No thank you. I'll head to my own home I have some things to think about and we have school still." He said getting up and leaving before anyone else could say anything.

Ichigo looked at her father. "What are we going to do we do have school tomorrow."

Isshin looked at his daughter and quickly gave her his reply. "I have already taken care of that, while school his important you need to be ready for Soul Society and both you and Doloran will need to get stronger. Take your showers and go to bed. I'll be here tomorrow." He said getting up and leaving himself. Realizing they had no choice they did as he asked and took their showers and went to bed in Kisuke's quest room.

* * *

AN: That ended up a lot longer than I had intended, but I'm happy with it. If everything goes well I'll have the next Chapter for this story and my new out this coming week. Thank you again to those who have been following me and as always reviews are welcome. So tell me what you guys think.


	10. Is Darkness Always Evil

The Black Flame and the Frozen Wasteland

Summary:

A soul reaper long thought dead turns up in Karakura town the night of the attack on the Kurosaki family. Who is this new Reaper and what does he want, who are his allies and what does his return to mean for them all. A femIchi Fic

DSF- "So I finally have managed to get another chapter done."

Souketsu – "We apologize for our wielders lateness, but do to family issues among other things have led to the lateness of this chapter."

Sougetsu – "This chapter along with the chapters before this one has some changes, so be sure to reread them."

DSF – "The rewrite isn't big, but there are changes, again I'm sorry for its lateness and I would ask that anyone who would like to beta my work pm me. Grammar was not and is not my strong suit and it would be much appreciated if someone would be willing to beat my work."

Souketsu and Sougetsu – DSF does not own Bleach. That honor belongs to Tite Kubo. He does own us and any of his other OC's. Enjoy this chapter and please review.

* * *

Chapter 10 - Is Darkness Always Evil

Doloran woke to Ichigo in his arms once again. It seemed to be happening a lot lately; he was becoming aware of a growing connection between them. The more time they spent together, the stronger the connection seemed to him and he realized ever since the battle with the Quincy he found he knew where she was or at the very least a very good idea. He wondered him the connection had to so with his power or something else entirely.

Knowing the answers were unlikely to come to him, he very carefully extracted himself from the young woman in front of him. Once on his feet he cast his gaze on the young woman, her face peaceful, a strand of hair falling across her face. The stress from the night before appeared to be gone. Her drive amazed him, never willing to give and always fighting for what she felt was right. He knew once she awakened he would likely be given hell over what he kept from her, but he didn't care. He would let her get out of her system.

Just watching her sleep gave him a since of peace he had never felt before meeting her and becoming a part of her life. It was becoming clear to him what kind of effect she was having on him and he also realized what effect he was having on her. She had become very important in his life and it was clear to him that it was something he had yearned for, but never had.

He grabbed his clothes and took a quick shower and made his way to the training grounds feeling no need for briefest. Finding a secluded spot and settled down to enter his inner world. Upon entering utter confusion settled over him. His inner world stood calm, not what he expected with his inner hollow having awoken. He had expected utter chaos, for the weather in his inner world to be tarring the place apart. Standing on his usual spot he expanded his senses trying to locate his Zanpakuto spirits. After several minutes he concluded they were nowhere he could sense them, however he could sense his hollow. Rising to his feet he set off toward it.

After several minutes he reached his query. His hollow stood with one hand on the Zanpakuto laying on his right side while the other lay loose at his side. His smile held none of the usual sadistic flare or malice. "**So you've finally come, I was beginning to wonder when you would get off your ass."**

Several minutes passed while Doloran waited for his hollow to attack before he realized his hollow was relaxed and calm, something he rarely so out of him. "Why are you not attacking, you don't expect me to believe you just want to talk?"

**"Figures you haven't figured it out yet." His smile widened. "Doloran we are not Visored, we are Hybrids. I never was after your soul. I was born from you, unlike the Visored who had their hollows forced into their souls. They will never reach the heights which we can and there is only one who can, the young lady and we will help her**."

Doloran stared at his hollow utterly godsmacked, it was not the hollow he knew and his hollow knowing of Ichigo possessing one of her own troubled him greatly. "If you were never after my soul, then why say so, why would you wish to help Ichigo and furthermore what do you mean the heights which we will reach?"

"**I said those things when you needed to get stronger and to urge you on. What I said when you were fighting fisher was because you were letting yourself fall to the depths of depression. We would have fought more if you hadn't accepted me as a part of yourself. I will always protect what you wish to protect just as the others do and have. I will protect her because of what she means to you and us. She has an effect on you and I'm sure you're aware. This conversation would be going much different if she didn't**." Doloran sensed no deceit from him as he spoke.

"**If you trust me as you do the others and once you gain both bankai and proven yourself to me, I will teach you a technique that will make us untouchable, the hollow version of bankai. Once you have it only a few will be able to stand a chance against you**."

"**You must understand that it is imperative that you reach for both, because without them and the powers the lady possess, we are all going to lose. Your Otou-san may have been strong, but I think even you feel it, even without the Hougyoku he will he'll find a way to finish his own and make your Otou-san look like a defenseless puppy**."

Doloran smiled, he knew even if his hollow hadn't said it, he was challenging him. "So what now, there is no way this is the only reason you lured me here?"

His hollow smiled again. "**Your right, I'm going to give you my name and then we're going to wake those two old sleeping fools and get to training with the lady**."

"Well then let's have it"

His hollow got a wicked grin. "**Be careful what you wish for**." He drew his Zanpakuto on his right hip and pointed it at Doloran's heart. "**I'm going to stab you and if you have fully accepted then you feel a rush of power and I will give you my name. I was going to what until latter to stab you as it will give you full access to my power, but I think you can handle it and if you haven't accepted me this is going to hurt.**" He said laughing insanely plunging the sword into his heart giving him no time to stop him.

* * *

Ichigo was pissed, she had woken and he was already gone. She wondered if he was avoiding her because of the conversation the night before and in truth was the fact he had woken before and not woken her that miffed her, not the conversation last night. She knew they had ended up in each other's arms again and she had to admit she likes waking in his arms. She was noticing something was going on between them even more now.

She could not for the life of her remember how they were ending up next to each other that night or how they had in the past when they went to bed apart from each other, excluding the few times when they had went to bed in each other' arms. She had begun to notice that their powers were stronger when they fought together than when apart. She could also swear she was feeling an ever increasing need to be next to him even when it was not possible for her to be.

She felt an ever increasing need to kiss him as well. They had not talked about what they were to each other and she had to wonder if his past was keeping him from acting in the feelings she knew he had for her. They had long ago passed the area of friendship and she wished he would just ask her out. The few times they had kissed even when it was awkward had set ablaze of feeling in her stomach. Hell they knew more about each other than even their family and friends knew about each other. It didn't feel right to say he was her boyfriend even though by all rights he was and yet it didn't feel right not to either.

She realized they were connected in some way that defied any words she had for it. After all she knew after she had gotten up the never to ask Zangetsu why she had felt like she had been guided to and through his memories. She asked him why she had been drawn to him and that she had talked to one of his Zanpakuto.

* * *

"_Ichigo I am not surprised you feel a connection with him as I am apart of you, I feel it as you do. Whether this connection is to blame for you feeling guided to and through his memories you were shown was the cause, I cannot be sure_."

She looked at her Zanpakuto wondering if he was being completely truthful with her or not. She couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't telling her everything and that he was hiding something from her. "I've been to his inner world and one of his twin Zanpakuto spoke to me and I don't know why." She said in an almost whisper."

Zangetsu looked surprised for the briefest of moments, that she almost wondered if she had imagined it. "_Did you think I would be angry with you for not telling me sooner or are you embarrassed because you have been told it is an intimate thing to venture into another's inner world?"_

She looked to her feet before answering. "A little of both I guess." She felt shame for doubting her Zanpakuto wondering why she thought he would be mad. "Why did it happen?"

"_I cannot be sure, perhaps you should speak with him_."

* * *

After he had pushed her out and they hadn't spoken since. She realized he was going to help.

She had just reached the latter leading to the training ground when she felt a surge of power, knowing it was from Doloran she raced to where she felt it coming from. She wasn't the only one either, her Otou-san, Hat n' Clogs and Tessai followed shortly after her descent.

The air around Doloran was chaotic and shimmered with electricity when they arrived. Doloran was surrounded by a ball of energy that it felt like it might crush her. She just began to wonder what the hell was going on when Zangetsu materialized, much to the surprise of the others standing beside her. "What's going on Zangetsu?" She asked in a worried done.

"_Doloran has fully accepted his hollow and I would say it has given him its name and a test. If I am right, then what we are seeing and feeling is the release of his hollow's stored power and it has caused this disturbance and will most like not settle until he has absorbed its power."_

Isshin turned to Kisuke. "Kisuke I don't remember you ever saying anything like this happening to the Visored."

Zangetsu answered him before Kisuke could speak. "_That's because he is not one of the masked ones, he is a hybrid. His hollow was created when he was born just as his Zanpakuto were, not forced to become a part of him."_

Kisuke's eyes widened with interest. "Does that mean he will be something like an Arrancar?"

Zangetsu's eyes darkened and Ichigo could swear she had felt a surge of power from the old man. "_No_" He all but barked. "_Arrancar are just the opposite of the masked ones. He will wield the full power of both hollow and soul reaper. His power will be perfect balance, instead of fighting for control." _

Ichigo was confused about what he meant, not knowing the full story about them. Isshin, Kisuke and Tessai however knew well what he meant. "How long will it take?" She asked him.

"_The awakening of his power is almost complete, however I suspect that this is just the beginning. They will most likely try and wake his other Zanpakuto_."

* * *

Doloran could say without doubt that he had only felt this much power welled up within him once before. He had with the help of one of his Okaa-san's techniques while fighting his grandfather's bankai for the first time. He had managed with the technique to force some of the power that held its home in his bankai out without having gained it. The power flowing through him made his skin crawl with every wave it washed over him, his finger tips crackled with electricity. He felt a wall in his very soul lift that he hadn't been aware was ever there.

He felt his power settle somewhat and he wondered what it would fell like once he could release both of his Zanpakuto with his full power. He knew that even if they were unable to gain bankai before leave for Soul Society they would have a good chance.

He saw his hollow look at him and smile. Doloran felt the new sword on his that sat between his other two. His hollow, Blaze, had said that it would always be there and that it would only be visible to those he wished to see it. He had also told him that his sword would not be needed to use his powers until he gained the hollow equivalent of bankai, resurrection. He was surprised to find that Blaze's sword felt much the same as his Zanpakuto, even if his power felt different. "So, now what?"

"**Now we wake them**."

Doloran nodded and Blaze led him to where his Zanpakuto rested. The spirits of his Zanpakuto lay deep within the skyscraper he always rested on his arrival in his inner world. The room in which they rested held a floor of magma, walls of rock and two stone slabs of marble on which they rested upon.

Doloran gazed down at them with great sorrow for what had happened to them. making a silent pledge that he would never allow it to happen to any of his spirits again, he withdrew their swords from there sheaths and drove them into the respective spirits. The moment the blades struck their chests he was driven out of his inner world.

* * *

They all felt his power settle and then several minutes passed before his spiritual pressure skyrocketed. They all watched with interest as the energy surrounding him disappeared and he opened his eyes. "Hey." He said looking at Ichigo.

She wasted no time in approaching him a run and hugging him, however the hug was short lived as she withdrew and punched him full force in the stomach. Doloran leaned over with the force of the punch and the pain it caused. "Of all the stupid things you have done, you choose to go off on your own and face your hollow without telling anyone and all you have to say for yourself is hey. What the hell were you thinking and what's more, were do you get off not telling me your darker side was a hollow and don't tell me no one knew, because from Otou-san's, Hat n' Clogs and Tessai's reactions they all knew." Tires she was trying desperately not to shed fell freely from her brown eyes.

"I was being stupid and trying to be noble, just didn't want to worry you. Otou-san and the others knew, but from the looks of it, they didn't know everything." He said raising her head to meet his own. His use of Otou-san was missed by nobody present. "I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't have to deal with him or me if the worst were to happen, but now that seems to have been an impossibility."

"_So it is done then_?" Zangetsu's voice caught all of their attention.

Doloran wasted no time answering him. "It is and it's good to finally meet you Zangetsu-san, Ichigo has told me much about you." Ichigo stiffened momentarily wondering if he knew about her visit to his inner world, but quickly pushed it aside.

Zangetsu regarded him for several minutes and then spoke again before disappearing. "_Then all is well, take care of her Darkblaze Doloran. Have her ready. I will take my leave."_

"So what happened Doloran, Zangetsu-san said you got your hollows name and that you accepted him?" Isshin asked.

"He did and it's as I suspected long ago, I am not like the Visored, but a hybrid and I suspect by Zangetsu-san's appearance he told you the same." At their nods he continued. "Blaze, my hollow, confirmed my suspicions and told me about some of his abilities. After that he gave me a test of sorts and we woke up my other Zanpakuto."

"So he wasn't after your soul after all." Kisuke stated more than asked.

Doloran answered anyway. "No he wasn't, but that's not all he said either." His face dropped and he gripped both swords at his waist so hard his knuckles turned white.

"What is it Doloran?" Ichigo asked not only seeing his distress, but feeling it through whatever connection they had.

Doloran took a moment to answer and when he did he caught all there gaze. "Blaze confirmed something I have been feeling and it's not good. Neither of us can shake the feeling that even if he doesn't have the Hougyoku, he will find a way to complete his own and I also can't shake the feeling that we won't stop him in Soul Society."

Ichigo could feel he was really worried about it. She wondered now for the first time why they wouldn't the traitor's name. She said nothing about however, knowing they must have good reason not to say it. "If we don't stop him their then we stop him were ever he goes next."

Kisuke spoke. "I doubt it well be that easy. He had an intelligence that rivals mine and he may very well have plans in place to prevent us from finding him and even if we so it won't be easy to get to him, especially if he completes his own Hougyoku."

"It changes nothing. Rukia's life is at stake, if we save her then we expose him and whoever's working with him." Ichigo said frustrated.

"She's right, if save her we expose him. We'll just have to train harder and hope luck is on our side." Doloran said placing a calm hand on her shoulder and with the other placing a loc of air behind her ear.

"We'll leave you to it then." Isshin said leaving with the others.

"Thanks Doloran." She said looking into his eyes.

"I'll always defend you Ichigo." He gazed in her eyes for several minutes before she backed away. "So why did he give you his name now and back then when you fought your father?"

"Things have changed since then and it wasn't the right time." Sensing he wasn't going to say more she moved several feet away from him. "So can you use your Zanpakuto?"

Doloran's eyebrows rose. "I should have full access to my shikai, why do ask?"

"Do you want to spar?"

"I thought you didn't want to train today?"

She smirked. "That was before you had awakened your Zanpakuto and there is something Zangetsu taught me a want to try."

Doloran smirked too. "Well alright, but be careful what you wish for."

Her smirk widened. "I wouldn't have it any other way,"

Doloran grasped both swords on his back unsheathing them and held them in front of him in and x formation. "Death and rebirth, Shi Fenikkusu Kurogetsu Ryuujin!"

* * *

"So what do you think Kisuke?" Isshin asked

"I can't be sure, but if what Ichigo-san Zanpakuto said and with Doloran's confirmation then he may very well be able to stand against him. I'm more inclined to believe it than not after what you told me of the battle with fisher and from what I have seen myself."

Isshin looked grim. "They will go after him again." Kisuke nodded.

Tessai spoke next. "From what you have told me about last night boss, he passed a message through the Taicho, Kuchiki." Kisuke nodded. "Then perhaps the Soutaichou can help, I can't see him letting his Mago be pursued by them again."

Kisuke looked thoughtful. "If I know him like I think I do, he will most likely kill the old fools, if he hasn't already, which will leave full command in the Soutaichou's hands."

Isshin's demeanor lightened somewhat. "If it does come to pass, then with my message to the Soutaichou we should have no problems and then he will indeed take full control and look to Doloran for any orders from me."

Silence hung over them as they felt a wave of spiritual pressure wash over them. Tessai never having felt that much from the young reaper not having been present during his time in Soul Society gasped at his power. Isshin and Kisuke wore expressions of glee and anticipation.

"He's grown." Kisuke said.

Isshin looked at Kisuke and smiled. "And he's only released one Zanpakuto."

Tessai's eyes widened at the implications. "Is this what he wielded when he fought his Otou-san?" He asked wondering just how powerful he would be with bankai and what more they speculated he would wield from his hollow.

"Not even close." Tessai's eyes widened once more at Isshin's words. Isshin laughed at the expression on Tessai's face and continued. "You have to understand that Doloran is not completely human, his Okaa-san and her people are older than anything you will come across and they were old even when Soul Society was created and formed. They look human, but that's only what they wanted us to see, what they allowed us to see. They do look close to us, but there are differences that would single them out if they had shown them."

Isshin stopped and Kisuke continued. "The human legends of elves were inspired by them and at one point there were many of them here and in Soul Society. I'm not sure what Doloran looks like as for he is half reaper and has never shown either of us what he really looks like, they only one who might know is Yoruichi."

"How do they walk among the living?"

Isshin answered him. "They aren't dead." At Tessai's confusion he continued. "No one knows how, but they walk an existence between life and death. They are neither dead nor alive, but both at the same time and we aren't sure what happens to them when they die."

"So because of what he is through his Okaa-san he was able to defeat his Otou-san?"

Kisuke answered. "Yes, but that is not all of it. Doloran's Okaa-san was the most powerful of her kind. She taught Doloran techniques that gave him more power than any bankai we have ever seen, however the technique are dangerous. They are dangerous enough that he was only willing to use them after he was sure there was no other way to win. What he used the others of their kind forbade any one, but his family to use, for if not under control the damage to the user would be death or worse and the damage to world, catastrophic."

"Can he use them in this war?"

Kisuke looked grim. "I have talked to Doloran about that very thing and he has told me even with what more he has learned and possibly mastered while away make what he used against his Otou-san to dangerous to us even now. Doloran also told me that he may have others that would be useful, but nothing like what he used before or is willing to and in truth I think he is scared to use them."

* * *

Fear momentarily gripped her as his power washed over her, what she was feeling was nothing compared to what see had felt that night they had fought fisher and she could once again feel the darkness which seemed rawer and somewhat maleficent than the darkness that usually resided in his reiatsu. Gripping Zangetsu she drew him from his sheath while wordlessly releasing him.

Doloran stared at her intently as she withdrew her Zanpakuto from its sheath, surprised t find she could wordlessly release it. "So when did you learn to do that?"

Ichigo smiled knowing she had surprised him. "You are not the only one who has gotten stronger or a power boost. Ever since the fight with Ishida, I have talked with Zangetsu at length and fought him several times. He has shown me much."

Without another word and a burst of shunpo from Doloran their spar began. Doloran appeared behind her bringing his sword on his right toward her neck while bring his left straight forward in a piercing move.

Ichigo turned away from the sword coming at her neck and brought Zangetsu behind her back to meet the second. She then twisted her wrest to get under his guard to deliver a kick to his chest while pushing away from him. With a burst of shunpo she withdrew from him and took a moment to look over his Zanpakuto.

Both swords handles were black with deep red wrappings which extended to a long ribbon in the same color which flowed from the end of the hilt. The tsuba were rectangular and in black. They blades themselves were red, the same as the wrappings and a black spider web like formation ran the length of the blades.

The similarities ended there, the right swords tsuba had a phoenix with black and red feathers with fire surrounding it. Its eyes burned with fire the likes of which she had never seen. The left sword tsuba had a grand black dragon with red eye and spikes. Its eyes burned in the same way as the phoenix, but the fire was black.

Ichigo wanting to test just how much his power had grown launched her most powerful silent Getsuga Tenshou at him. When the attack was half way to its target she shunpoed behind him and launched another at his back. She watched in frustration as he held both swords at the attacks and absorbed them without a scratch.

"That all you got?" He asked smiling. Mift that he would ask such a thing, she began using Kidou. "Bakudō number four Haiwana!" Long robe like energy leapt from her hand wrapping around Doloran. "Bakudō number 61 Rikujokoro!" The robes transformed into six bars of light binding Doloran in place. She looked at him and felt anger at the smile on his face. She brought her Zanpakuto in front of her and pointed it at Doloran, with one fluid motion she brought it down yelling. "Getsuga Tenshou." The Getsuga raced toward him.

The smile slipped from Doloran's face as he realized the attack was not something he could negate. He expanded his senses to his other Zanpakuto mentally grasping the hilts and yelled. "Reign over the frozen heavens, grant asylum to the innocent in the frozen wastelands, Souketsu Kyuuten Sougetsu Ryuujin!"

* * *

The three men upstairs felt the release as another wave of spiritual power washed over them and they weren't the only ones, Shihoin Yoruichi stood against the doorframe. "What did she do to him to make release this much power?"

The three men turned toward the new arrival and Isshin answered her. "Her powers have been growing rapidly since the battle with the Quincy and I think what she learned last night and what Doloran did this morning have lit a fire under her." He said with pride.

"So you finally told her?"

Kisuke answered. "Doloran wasn't giving us mush choice and after last night Isshin felt it might do more harm than good."

Yoruichi looked thoughtful for several moments. "He seems stronger than before and what's this about this morning?"

"He went off on his own and went into his inner world to face his hollow."

* * *

Ichigo watched in awe as Doloran emerged once again unharmed. She felt his power fully press down on her in its full glory. Doloran's four swords merging into two, she wondered how she could match him, his power was terrifying and well beyond what she had ever felt. She felt a shiver rune down her spine.

"_Ichigo don't fear, it's time to show him my true form."_ Strengthened by her Zanpakuto words, she did as he told her and reached within the depths of her soul for her Zanpakuto's power. After several moments his power and form enveloped her, she could fell him standing beside her with his hand on her shoulder. Gripping hold of his power she drew it from her soul.

Doloran felt her spiritual pressure raise and change. Before his eyes her Zanpakuto changed. The blade curved slightly at the tip, more so than before. The cloth and the end of the hilt changed into a blue tassel and the grip was no covered in red leather rather than cloth. "_Can you fell it Doloran, she had another."_ The Souketsu's voice rang through his mind. Once the words sung in he felt what she meant. Concentrating on her he could feel a faint energy he had not before, now he felt something else that must have lain dormant within her power. It was cold and held darkness to it, for the briefest moments he thought it to be her inner hollow in her which none of the others knew about, but he quickly discounted as it didn't feel right. After several moments he realized it to be another Zanpakuto spirit. "_Yes Doloran, she carries' a twin as well. Press her Doloran and get her to call it_."

In a burst of shunpo he appeared before and swung both swords down upon her. Ichigo brought her Zanpakuto up to meet his and was driven back several feet by the power behind them. She tightened her grip in her Zanpakuto and tried to push him with now results to show for it. Removing one figure from her Zanpakuto she pointed it at Doloran and yelled. "Hadō number four, Byakurai."

The streak of lightning struck Doloran in the chest pushing him back several feet. He resisted the urge to rub his chest and pressed forward. He swung the sword in his right hand toward her chest upon reaching her. She parried his strike, so struck with the left. She twisted slightly, his strike missing. She then twisting her wrest sending his sword upward away from her while striking with her fist toward his chin.

She the strike Doloran spun away from her and once clear launched several Kidou at her. "Hadō number thirty one, Shakkaho. Hadō number thirty three, Sokatsui." The first was batted away by her Zanpakuto, but the second caught her right leg as she tried to move away. Leaving her no breathing room he launched one of his own attacks. "Jigoku Kasai (Hell Fire)." Fire engulfed Doloran's arm, he swung the sword on his right toward her in a downward motion. A crescent moon of fire approached her.

Ichigo saw the attack coming and even thought she wasn't sure how she knew; she knew she could cancel it with her own attack. As quickly as she could she launched a Getsuga at the crescent fire ball. The attacks meet just before her and she felt her body be pushed back. The force pushed her into a rock, creaking and then breaking it. She landed hard bouncing off the ground hard sending her into the air. Unable to stop herself she landed again felling the boned in her body get jarred hard by the impact.

She slowly got up every bone in her body aching. She watched as the world around her froze. A woman appeared wearing a dark blue kimono with white snow flake pattern and whit obi. Her hair flowed down her back and deep blue in color, her deep blue eyes held a soul piercing look. Her beauty astounded her and she realized she had seen her once before that night they had fought fisher, the first night she saw Zangetsu. "_Young one you are on the right path. Stay close to him, for he will always stand by your side. You are not quite ready for my power yet, but you are close. Take my shikai this once and show him that you can stand by them_."

The women disappeared and she felt a sword appear in her other hand. She held up the blade seeing it looked much the same as her other; however the blade produced a cold aura which hung around the blade and her. Like Doloran, she could feel darkness in it.

Doloran watched on feeling joy fill him, he knew she would be able to use its full capabilities yet, but he knew she would still be a match for him. The voice of Souketsu reached him once more. "_She had shown us the true form of her Zanpakuto, now it is the time for us to do the same."_ At Doloran's confusion he felt all their voices in his head. "_It is time for us to show you what we never got the chance to before your Otou-san attacked. Let us show you."_

Ichigo felt his power shift and she saw his energy manifest around him. She felt the slit unbalance in his power vanish and the energy around him merge into one. The energy stayed around him for a few seconds more before exploding outward.

* * *

The four up stairs also felt what was happening. Yoruichi gasped. "Has he really gotten that much stronger? He's putting off almost as much as the Soutaichou in shikai."

"It feels like it did that day he fought his Bankai the first time and somehow forced out the power he would have in Bankai without having it." Isshin felt even more pride for the kids, but he to wonder what was allowing them to reach such heights so soon. He knew it would be easier to grow as he had held and felt tremendous power before, however that didn't explain how she was able to keep up with him and how he had shed the seal on his power. It had been breaking when he returned and he knew it wasn't fully gone as he hadn't had his other twin Zanpakuto. If having it now it didn't explain how it was gone, not even his hollow would have been able to break the rest of the way, it was the kind of thing that just took time.

What troubled him more was that both were using power they should have in shikai without having Bankai. It was if the barrier between their stages of power weren't fully intact, but he could think of nothing that would cause it. Isshin was one of the best when it came to sensing the power of others and that was probably way he outside of his daughter was one of the few who could sense him. He had been keeping a close eye on them since earlier that morning never letting his sense retract from them.

Every increase they had he had felt happen and he had been just as surprised as the others when he had felt Ichigo release another Zanpakuto or rather the other half of hers. He was now fully realized that both their Zanpakuto were different than any other duel wielded Zanpakuto in existence. His Zanpakuto was just as confused as he and none of them in the room had the answer he wanted and felt he needed.

What bothered him the most was that he was noticing their powers acting weird around the area surrounding them. Their seemed to constantly reach out to the other and then withdraw, but that wasn't the really weird part about it. The reiatsu seemed to always have a sliver of the other in it. A thought stuck him and he turned to Kisuke looking directly at him. "Kisuke is there something happening with them? I'm growing concerned."

Before Kisuke could answer him Yoruichi spoke looking at Isshin and Kisuke. "Your kid is putting off almost three quarters of what he is, I'm I missing something?"

Kisuke removed his fan from his face lying on the table and removed his placing it beside him. "I've noticed it to, they draw off each other when they fight and their power always seems to be stronger when they are around each other."

Isshin looked concerned. "When did it start?"

"It started after she delved into his memories."

"She what?" Yoruichi screamed. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, the first day Doloran brought her here, he was teaching her how to sense those around her and the reiatsu in the air. He had left her to speak to Kuchiki-san and me when she sought out Doloran, delving so deep she could see and feel his emotions and see his past."

Yoruichi stood stunned, knowing full well only Isshin and a handful of others, now all deceased all but for one could delve even close to that. "How much spiritual pressure was he putting off?"

"Just enough spiritual pressure for me to sense it and know he was there." Yoruichi looked at him and Isshin godsmacked.

Isshin looked thoughtful for several moments as silence hung over them. "Kisuke there is a connection between them isn't there?"

Kisuke dropped his head for a moment. "Considering their growth rate and what I have seen, I would say there is."

"You can't mean…" Kisuke broke her off. "Yes it seems their souls have intertwined and considering the rate at which Doloran's seal as been broken it is very strong."

Isshin knowing full well what could happen looked at Kisuke once more. "What does it mean for them?"

Kisuke answered the unasked question. "The connection is stable from what I have seen and as long as they stay together they should be fine. I'm more concerned with what Doloran will do to protect her."

"They can't stay together the whole time they are in Soul Society Kisuke." Yoruichi said. Kisuke was quick to address her concern. "By the time you get into the Seireitei the connection will have established itself enough that as long as they are within Seireitei no problems will arise."

* * *

Doloran felt his two twin Zanpakuto merge completely into two swords and his power fell in full sink neither having to be balanced. The power was more than he had ever felt from his Zanpakuto. His spiritual pressure condensed around his body forming a cocoon of energy only slightly visible. The Zanpakuto on his right remained looking like Shi Fenikkusu, while around his hand and extending slightly past it appeared a long gauntlet which held what could only be described as a claw down his middle finger. The gauntlet was stylized in Souketsu's colors. His left had held Sougetsu and Kurogetsu Ryuujin became another gauntlet like the first, stylized in his colors.

Doloran gripped the Zanpakuto enjoying the feeling of having them both in his hands again together. The flowed through him as one were before they were unbalanced. He could feel the elements they controlled more easily and he they swirled around his arms. Taking a deep breath as he hadn't noticed he had been holding his breath he looked on to Ichigo waiting for her to make a move.

Ichigo stared at Doloran's Zanpakuto knowing she should feel fear, but she couldn't help but fell joy and anticipation of battle. She could feel her power level still rising as if trying to reach his. She could fell there power mix in the air leaving the air to feel cold and the ground hot. The darkness she felt in their power hung in the air as if waiting to swallow their foe. She also like him could feel what elements she possessed in her body and surrounding it.

"So you have two Swords as well, but can you wield two." She gripped both blades wondering if she could. She swung both in front of her several times in a duel wield manner. She gasped, surprised that it had felt like she had done so before, like she had wield two all along and that it felt like second nature.

In a burst of shunpo she appeared behind him swing both swords at his back. Doloran spun on his heal bringing both his swords forward meeting hers. The force of contact between them cracked the ground below them. Electricity crackled between their blades striking out at the ground around them destroying rocks and anything else in their way. Their spiritual pressure crashed together forming sonic booms.

Doloran moved first bring his right foot out swipe at her leg. She saw the move and met his leg locking them in place. Doloran pushed his full weight against her along with his power trying to force her back. After several seconds she gave falling backward. Doloran struck out with Zanpakuto on his left intending to hit her shoulder.

Ichigo continued to fall backward placing her hand behind her while putting her weight on it raising herself into the air. Doloran's sword went passed her and she spun around several times delivering several kicks to his chest. He stumbled backward barely catching himself before she struck out with her Zanpakuto. Rising both of his Zanpakuto he parried her strike while placing two fingers toward her casting a Byakurai. The Kidou hit her in the right arm causing her to drop her guard, using the window he struck out cutting her left forearm.

She quickly recovered shunpoing to his left. Doloran saw her but didn't react fast enough and see caught his right arm leaving a deep gash. She fallowed her strike with another before he could recover cutting his left shoulder while casting a silent Getsuga.

Doloran encored the pain feeling the Getsuga. He quickly wrapped his spiritual energy around his body to lessen the attack he knew he could not stop. The Getsuga hit him hard and it felt to him much stronger than the one she had sent him earlier. He hit the ground several times before he managed to catch himself with one hand. Flipping himself her landed on his feet only to meet her two blades.

They pushed off away from each other both launching Kidō at the other. Two powerfully massive Sokatsui collided between them in a massive bang. The battle field became covered in dust. Reiatsu swirled around the sight of the explosion.

Doloran and Ichigo expanded their spiritual pressure blowing away the dust giving them a clear view of each other. Launching themselves at each other the collided sending dust into the around them. Strike for strike they meet each in turn, neither gaining nor losing ground. They sent Kidou after Kidou at each other never hitting their intended target.

They both stooped several yards away from each other panting heavily. Neither spoke, they stared at each other looking into each other's eyes trying to gage the others next move. Neither of them blinked nor moved a muscle. Sweat poured down their faces and bodies.

Doloran knew he was about spent and he could tell Ichigo was as well. Gathering what little reiatsu he had left he focused it into his Zanpakuto. He could fell her doing the same. Bring both blades before him with the edges slightly touching he brought them down in an arc toward her yelling. "Jigoku Kasai" The massive fiery crescent went barreling toward her.

Ichigo saw the attack and copied him launching a massive Getsuga toward him. The attacks meet between them with a loud explosion and force, knocking them to the ground. The last thing either of them saw was the dust before they lost consciousness.

* * *

I hope you guys like this and again sorry about the delay. I rewrote this several times not happy with how it turned out and I'm still not completely happy about it. The fighting bugs me as it's not my strong suit. The next chapter will have an new character and the bio for Doloran's other twin Zanpakuto and they will appear. As always thanks for reading and I hope to see you review.

Hope you enjoyed.

Peace, DSF.


	11. The Unknown Past

The Black Flame and the Frozen Wasteland

Summary:

A soul reaper long thought dead turns up in Karakura town the night of the attack on the Kurosaki family. Who is this new Reaper and what does he want, who are his allies and what does his return to mean for them all. A femIchi Fic

Souketsu and Sougetsu – DSF does not own Bleach. That honor belongs to Tite Kubo. He does own us and any of his other OC's. Enjoy this chapter and please review.

Chapter 11- The Unknown Past

The Soutaichou sat at his desk with his Fuku-Taicho by his side, both felt huge astonishment. The Taicho of the six had just left from informing him of a message from an unknown soul reaper whom he and his Fuku-Taicho encountered while retrieving the Taicho's sister. The Soutaichou and his Fuku-Taicho knew or rather believed they knew who the soul reaper was, if the message was to be believed.

The Soutaichou felt an immense sense of joy overcome him, could his grandson whom all thought to have perished fighting his Son. The message itself suggested trouble brewed in Soul Society and if so what waited in their mists to rear its head that he was not aware of. The fact that the reaper, if it was whom he believed him to be choose to stay in the living world and not return to Soul Society upon his arrive added the possibility of trouble in Soul Society.

It troubled him further that for the life of him he could not discern what would cause him to act in such as way, why would he believe it better to stay in the living world rather than return to Soul Society and what involvement did the Kuchiki girl play in whatever was going on. Had he witnessed the transfer to the human and did he believe that she was innocent of any wrong doing, if so why would he not return and assure her innocence.

"Is it him grandfather?" The young feminine voice of his Fuku-Taicho, his granddaughter brought him out of his thoughts. "Is it my nii-san?"

The old man sighted. "The message isn't false then it is your nii-san."

"But how, you know what happened, if he survived why stay away this long, why not return?"

The old man sat silently for several long minutes. He took a sip of his tea and sighed again. "I cannot be sure, but I cannot shake the feeling time has not past for him as it has for us and I believe something in Soul Society stays his return."

"Do you believe the Kuchiki girl knows why?"

"To the answer of why he has not returned to Soul Society, no. To why where he has been, yes I believe so."

He heard his granddaughter begin to move and knew where she sought to go." Be wary what you ask, he may not be completely who you remember him to be and treat her well, for I believe he will protect her with all he is."

She stopped just at the door. "I'll keep that in mind. What do you think he intends to do?"

"To reveal what we cannot see and rain down all who seek to harm the Kuchiki girl?"

"What makes you so sure he is willing to help her?"

"He would not have been there if he did not care, that is all I can be sure of."

Ichigo awoke with a start not knowing how she had gotten to her and Doloran's room in the Shoten. It took her several moments to remember her spar with Doloran and that they had fallen unconscious. She knew even without looking that Doloran lay next to her and that he was still unconscious. She also knew that he would be unconscious for some time more, even thought she knew not how she knew.

She took several minutes making sure she was not hurt and while searching for injuries she realized that her outstretched hand was grasping something not familiar to her. She let her gaze fall to her hand and saw a Zanpakuto, the sword matched Zangetsu's in every way except for the wrappings and sheath which were both blue. Without any thought she knew it was hers and that like Doloran's, it was a twin. She admired it for several moments and remembered another spirit speaking to her in her spar with Doloran where moments before she hadn't recalled it.

The Zanpakuto felt cold to the touch, she realized in the much the same way as Doloran's. Like the day before she felt a darkness in the blade not unlike the darkness she felt in Doloran's reiatsu. After looking at the blade several more moments she laid it next to Zangetsu and turned her attention to Doloran.

She looked him over several long moments before she was satisfied that he wasn't hurt either and came to the conclusion that they had simply fallen unconscious. A nock at the door came as she wondered why they had done so. She turned toward the door and saw Yoruichi.

"Who are you?" She asked not having met Yoruichi.

Yoruichi smiled and approached her and sat down stretching her hand out toward her. Ichigo took her hand and shook it as Yoruichi spoke."My name is Shihoin Yoruichi and I am a friend of your Otou-san, Kisuke and Doloran. Just call me Yoruichi without the honorific, please."

A bright white light beside them turned their attention to Doloran, his body glowed. When the light died down Ichigo saw several symbols appear on him and two dragons on his chest. The symbols were of nothing she had ever seen and they glowed in a faint white light before the symbols themselves turned red. The dragons were the deepest black she had ever seen and they had red spikes, claws and eyes.

She stared at the dragons, Yoruichi's presence forgotten. The dragons seemed to float over his chest rather than move across it as if they were free of his flesh. From time to time they would look up at her while off his chest as if to discern if she were an enemy, pry or friend. Soon her attention rested solely on them. She wondered why after all the times the two had seen each other shirtless how she had not seen them.

Their beauty captured her in their brilliance. Their scales shimmered, almost dancing in the light of the room. The soft membrane of their wings seemed to her to capture all light. Their eyes though sent shivers down her spine while at the same time they gave her a sense of warmth and serenity.

On instinct she allowed her senses to expanded toward and around the them, to her surprise a vast well of power swept over her, unlike Doloran's the reiatsu theirs were vastly different. Their power seemed to her to radiate a sense of ancientness, a coldness swept over the likes of which she had never felt and she could not help but feel like the impala, pry to the lion. These feelings reached down to her very veins and she felt her very core of her being shiver.

She felt those feelings for several minutes until they disappeared, then a new sensation overcame her. The new sensation left her feeling like a new born needing watched over and protected. She noticed the dragon's eyes on her and that their forms intertwined.

"Beautiful aren't they?" Ichigo snapped her attention away from the dragons to Yoruichi whom she had forgotten was present. "Yes they are." She noticed that she seemed to be unaffected by the symbols or the dragons appearance. "Have you seen them before?"

"Yes and we are probably the only ones alive besides his grandfather who have."

"What do you mean?" She asked wondering why Doloran hadn't told her about them and she couldn't help but get the feeling that it was a secret she had yet to learn.

"I doubt you are aware of this, weather Doloran's thoughts have been elsewhere or he has feared your reaction to how you would take it, but he is not completely human."

Ichigo's face hardened for the briefest of moments then softened. She wanted to be made at him, but found she could not. She was sure after all that had happened since his return and all her stupid actions he had never thought of telling her, it was just one more thing to learn about him and she understood. After all she knew they grew closer with everything they learned about each other, the good and the bad and she wanted to know she could about the most important person in her life. Between him and her family of late she had begun to feel a since of normalcy return to her life, even with the soul reaper stuff. "How so?"

Yoruichi had watched her reaction carefully and was surprised the impact Doloran had made on her. She and Kisuke had spent years watching over her and her sisters and Doloran's influence could be seen in them all. She was no longer as brash as she had been and her demeanor was now much calmer than before. She now saw why Doloran had been so adamant that she had been ready for the truth, but she also saw what strain her and Doloran's unconsciousness do to the battle was having on her. She smiled softly then grinned at how much concern she showed for her friend or what her they were to each other, even she and the others could see the conflict in them over their feelings for each other. She had been told much by the others about them and she now agreed that their moments showed much of their feelings or at least Ichigo from what she had seen of her, she could only speculate on Doloran.

She had been concerned when Isshin had told her that they had been growing close to each other. She had grown up with Doloran and had seen all of his childhood or what childhood he was able to have being older than him even then. What had been expected of him and what had happened to him had changed him greatly and she had been greatly worried how their relationship would affect him after such a short time from experiencing what he had. After seeing them now and what she had learned since then she was sure Ichigo had been what he need and that she would always be a positive in his life, something he had always needed.

She was happy that he had found a family and that he could enjoy life again and deal with whatever it would bring with all of them by his side. Their closeness worried her to, she was not sure what would come when they entered Soul Society and she hoped he wouldn't be pushed to do something he would regret later by the stupid fools who had created the mess in the first place.

Then of course Ichigo's question came to the front of her mind and she wondered what she should reveal and what she shouldn't. Growing up he was probably closest to her next to Isshin and she had learned things that even he hadn't. Retsu had been in the club to and the two women had been there for him when he wouldn't go to his mother or Isshin. She and Retsu may not have been as close to him as Ichigo was now, but they had been afforded secrets when he wasn't as closed off and guarded.

"Even though your father, Kisuke, myself and a few other went through the academy together and more or less grew up with him and could be called his friends, we even now know little of his mother and her side of the family. They have kept their existence secret from all but a very few and those who knew outside of the royal family and few Taicho's over the years consisted of the nobles. They have watched over Soul Society from before even the royal guard existed. They have been friends of the royal family for centuries and have been their friends for as long as anyone has known." Yoruichi turned her gaze back to Doloran. "Their origin is unknown to all, but maybe Doloran. What you see is what they truly look like."

Ichigo looked over Doloran once more taking in all the different changes to him. She mow noticed his face to be more slightly fairer and his ears pointed slightly. She couldn't help but think he looked much like the elves in fairy tales and legends were depicted.

"They have powers which escapes our grasp and much of what I have seen of his family do defy how we know are powers and those of other spiritual beings, for all of them have held the power of the soul reaper. There is no telling what Doloran is capable of and only he holds that information now." Yoruichi gazed at Ichigo again. "Have you seen him do anything you know not to be the power of the soul reaper?"

Ichigo brought her eyes to meet Yoruichi's. "Not first hand, but I have seen some of his memories and I saw him fight his father and others using power I have not seen anyone else use."

"Then you know how destructive they can be." At her nod she continued. "They guarded their existence for that very reason. The fact that they walk a line between life and death only enforced their secretiveness."

"Like me being alive?"

"Yes and no, he is alive as you are yes, but even when in soul form he is considered alive. He and his family are bound to the cycle of reincarnation and from what I know they don't die as we do, rather they go to another existence. What that existence his and where the place they go is a mystery. Doloran did tell me once that the only way to kill them and to be sure they stay dead is to destroy their soul beyond their ability to regenerate or heal themselves."

"How then did they die that night?"

"That is something only he can answer, not much is known about that night to anyone other than Doloran and his grandfather who was given the full story of that night. So they only one who knows whether they truly died that night or the still exist somewhere he cannot go her they cannot reach here any longer, only he and maybe his grandfather know."

Silence stood over them for several long moments as Ichigo took in what she had learned. She couldn't help her gaze returning to the dragons once more. "What are they?" She asked not wanting to talk about Doloran's family any longer.

Yoruichi followed her gaze. "They are guardians that he received when he was a child, but for the how and why you will have to ask Doloran."

"What was he like back then?"

"He was more carefree even with everything that was on his shoulders. He did his job and he did it well, a lot better than must did back then and most likely even now, but for the oldest. Back then he was a ball of energy, rarely ever staying in one place, always looking for something to do." She smiled and so did Ichigo, Yoruichi remembering those times and Ichigo though she could not see him as a ball of energy she was proud that he did his job and sis it well, she expected nothing less form him. "When he wasn't training, performing his duties or enjoying his life, be that with friends or just running around the Sou Society he was playing tag with me."

"Somehow I can't picture him running around all over the place."

"The death of his family hurt him greatly; he lost much of his spark and what he was before."

"He told me once that he felt that everyone thought he could do no wrong, it makes it hard to imagine him like that."

Yoruichi sighted. "Sometimes I think things would have been greatly different if we hadn't expected so much out of him. He was a prodigy in the academy and even though he doesn't show it, his intellect ravels even Kisuke's, if not surpasses it. He rarely shows it as he didn't like the extra attention. He got a lot of grief from the nobles and by extension the rest of the academy as they were wary of upsetting the nobles because of their power and went along with what they said. I don't think any of us saw him as a child so we treated him as an adult, which wasn't wrong per say as he acted like one, but I think we never realized that we shouldn't have expected and given him what we believed an adult capable of."

Ichigo reached out and grasped his hand. "You care for him a lot don't you?" Ichigo looked up at her. "Yes I do, he has become a light in what had become a darkened world after my Okaa-san's death."

"Keep him close, he can get in his own way at times and he needs you more than you may realize. He tells you more than the rest of us, keep that in mind."

Rukia sat in her cell thinking over all that had happened since her return and what had happened since see had met Ichigo and Doloran. Her so called nii-san had done nothing in her defense when she stood in front of Central Forty-Six, not that she had been surprised. He had said not a word to her since they had left the living world. Renji had only made things worse the day before when he made a point of saying that his Taicho would plead for a lesser sentence.

She realized her friendship with him was beyond reparable and could never be again after what he had done and said to her since her admittance into the Kuchiki family. If she was honest with herself she no longer cared about him and no longer wanted anything to do with him.

She took great satisfaction in knowing Doloran had scared him and raddled her so could nii-san. Her so called nii-san's reiatsu had radiated many things after his appearance and after the left, but fear and appreciation were the two that allowed her to feel better about her situation. Of course Doloran's coldness toward him and how he had spoken had given her strength. She began to realize that Doloran and Ichigo's convection was giving her the strength to not despair over her situation.

She had been relived when he had said nothing to Central Forty-Six about him; she could not shake the feeling that they were the last who needed to hear anything about him. She had considered demanding to see the Soutaichou and tell him all that had happened, after all he was Doloran's grandfather, but she could not help but feel that would have been a very bad idea. She would have to find another way.

She withdrew a ring from the folds of her robes, unaware that she had done so it took her several minutes to realize she was holding it. The ring had been given to her by Doloran several days before her departure from the living world. She gazed at the ring taking in every detail. The band was simple and was colored crimson red; she couldn't tell what it was made of. The face of the ring held a dragon wrapped around a Katana. The dragon was black and it held two red stones of unknown origin to her for eyes. A raging inferno surrounded the dragon and the sword.

Silently she pledged to never return to the Kuchiki clan, renouncing all that it meant to be a Kuchiki. A see made her pledge she did not see the small glow the ring admitted to her words. After the pledge she remembered the conversation between Doloran and her after he had given her the ring.

"What's this?"

"A ring, keep it on you always and you will always know who to trust. No one who means you ill can see it."

She frowned. "I can't accept this."

"You can and you will, like it or not you are important to Ichigo and me." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "I have little I care about and you are among the things a car about. I will always protect you Rukia, just as I will always protect Ichigo and her family. I can't protect everyone, but I will protect who I can."

She heard someone clear their throat breaking her from her thoughts and the ring, though she kept a hand on it turning it on her finger. She looked through the bars of the cell to find the first divisions Fuku-Taicho staring at her ring. She could not ever remember meeting her and could not help but see similarities in her that reminded her of Doloran. She held the similar features, hair and even the same stature to some extent and her power radiated in much the same way as his.

"How Kuchiki have you come to posses that ring when its owner is believed to be dead?"

Rukia stared at her for several long moments once again remembering Doloran's words. "I will no longer go by that name, if you must call me anything call me Rukia." She held her gaze to the Fuku-Taicho refusing to look anything but defiant. She would not back down, not from anyone anymore and she knew Ichigo and Doloran would accept nothing less. "And this ring was given to me by a friend and one of the only people I feel and know I can trust."

The Fuku-Taicho looked her in the eyes for several long minutes, Rukia felt as is her very soul had been looked at and that she was being judged by someone she would not want the piss off. The power in the Fuku-Taicho gaze reminded her much of Doloran's. "Then you can trust me as well." The Fuku-Taicho walked over to the sliding doors and placed her hand on them. The doors glowed and she then returned to the cell unlocking the door and entering it setting down before Rukia. "My name in Soul Society is Yamamoto Kairi, but my true name is Darkblaze Kairi and I am Doloran's sister." Rukia looked godsmacked at her words, after all Doloran believed her had no family left other than his grandfather. "Tell me how he is." Rukia hesitated. "We will not be heard."

Doloran sat in his inner world in the cabin surrounded by all his inner spirits. He knew he lay unconscious in the living world and he believed he knew why. The connection between them seemed to buzz in the back of his head making itself known and the connection was the only reason he could see for them both falling unconscious. "It was the connection between us wasn't it?" He asked looking around the cabin at all his Zanpakuto.

"_The seal on your power may be broken, but your power has not stabilized_." The spirit who spoke looked to be middle-aged. The spirit wore a long black Kimono with flame designs and red obi. The spirits crimson hair flowed down his back tied together by a black cord. A long sword hung across his back. The spirit was that of Shi Fenikkusu.

The spirit of Kurogetsu Ryuujin, a long red male dragon spoke. "_Your connection to the young lady keeps you from stabilizing and is destabilizing her power as well. Your unstable power is why the two of you fell unconscious._"

"It's as I feared then."

"_You should not fear love Doloran_." Souketsu's smooth famine voice soothed his echoing head and caught his full attention. "_The past should never be forgotten, but neither should it resided in the present. You do a disservice to you both by denying what you feel for her." _

"I don't deny my feelings for; I only wish to protect her." He barked

"_By not telling her you hurt you both and are liable to case you both to do something that will cause you both to be hurt far greater than you fear_." Souketsu said. "_The longer you don't tell her increases the chance your connection may do this to you again. The connection wants you closer and if you deny it, it will act in any way it perceives will draw you closer. You can't fight it, the young lady as chosen not to weather she realizes it or not."_

Doloran felt the truth in her words and knew she was right. He realized that if what had happened choose to do so when they arrived in Soul Society it could be disastrous. Seeing her point he moved on. "What I don't get is why we are connected and when it happened."

Sougetsu raised her head from her spot beside Souketsu. "_The why is not that hard to understand, the two of you share a pain that many can never understand or will ever feel. You both have to this point walked a path greatly similar, even if the circumstances were different and that in itself gives you a connection to one another that allowed the connection between you to grow and be created in the first place._"

"The when?" He asked.

Blaze answered him. "**That is unclear, it could have been the first night you arrived or the day she saw your memories and even before you were born**."

Doloran was far from satisfied by his answer, if anything it only made him want to know stronger. "What is the connection?"

"_A bond that as intertwined your souls_." Shi's words left him speechless, his mother had once told him about the bonds of the soul and how they were created and what they entailed. The realization that a bond had intertwined their souls and was what had been accruing between then both terrified him and warmed him. "When will are powers stabilize and what will it mean for us in Soul Society, from what I know we have to stay near one another?"

Kurogetsu grasped his sword and spoke. "_If you do as you should then the bond will not cause too many problems and you shouldn't have to be worried about being split. When it will stabilize is up to the two of you and your actions can help or hurt it."_

"_Your destiny's are intertwined Doloran and we pushed you both to the point of unconsciousness to prove to the two of you that you can stand by each other, but if you want to reach again what we showed you the two of you have to work together_." Sougetsu said.

Souketsu got up from her chair and walked over to Doloran kneeling before and held his full attention. "_Doloran, stay true to who you are and leave the past were it should be and you will not fail. We have talked enough, go to her and say what must be said_." His vision faded and he left his Zanpakuto.

Kairi stood before her grandfather. "What have you learned?"

"It seems that it is indeed Doloran, however she knew nothing of what's wrong here."

"Do you trust her?"

"Yes, he has given her his ring and put her under his protection."

The old man opened his eyes and sighed heavenly. "It appears we must wait. Is there anything else?"

"The girl has thrown away the Kuchiki name and when she did the ring glowed."

The old man's widened knowing well what it meant. Things were getting immensely confusing. His mind began seeing thousands of variables that could cause his grandson to act in such away as the course he had chosen; however the girls decision to throw away her name threw a wrench into the scenarios in his mind.

"And that's not all of it." The old man's gaze rested in his granddaughter again. "It appears the girl who was supposed to have taken her powers is of pure blood. What's more I caught a glimpse of the girl's power in her memories as she spoke, her power is very much incomplete. I can only assume it to be caused by having twin Zanpakuto and not using both." The old man's eyes widened further. "And that's not all; her power feels much like Doloran's

The implications of what he had heard made it clear all was not as it appeared to be. He could only thing of a few things which would explain why the girl's power seemed to his granddaughter to be so close to his grandsons. "Did she confirm what I believed to occurred to Doloran?"

Kairi felt unsure how to feel about what she was to say next. "She does not know all the details, but she said he had indeed not experienced time as we have." Silence hung over the, for several moments. "What do we do, she was adamant that he would come here."

"We play the part that we would be believed to play and we see what Doloran's has in store."

Isshin, Yoruichi, Kisuke and Tessai sat around the table in the Shoten. "Kisuke, what's going on with them?"

"At the moment their powers are settling, if nothing affects it negatively they should progress as they should."

"How aware are they?" Tessai asked.

"Ichigo seems aware there is a connection between them, but other than that I cannot be sure. Doloran on the other hand most certainly knows what the connection is and what it is doing to them, weather he knows anything outside that I can't be sure of." Kisuke replied.

"How they might react to it means for them in the eyes of Soul Society is what worries me, its times like this that I really wish Masaki was here. Doloran is already protective of her and when he finds out it will only make him worse. He already lost so much and he won't stand for any harm to come to her or us from Central Forty-Six."

Yoruichi spoke to his worries. "Isshin she clearly loves him, just watching her I can tell that, as for Doloran, he's just being cautious. I don't think we will have any more problems from Central Forty-Six once all is said and done."

"Yoruichi is right, once the old man gets your orders there is nothing they can do without having the whole of the Gotei 13 after them, they won't risk it." Kisuke said. "The real concern is when to tell them."

"With everything going on right now, I don't thing now or anytime soon his best." Isshin stated.

"It may be best to let them find out on their own, after all Doloran will want to keep her away from the nobles and will likely look for anyway to do it and stumble across the truth." Yoruichi said.

"The old man's likely to notice and voice it anyway. I doubt he would miss it." Kisuke said with a smile.

Yoruichi smiled as well. "It would be fun to see one or both of them blow up on the old man."

Isshin smiling spoke. "We let them figure it out on their own then." He turned to Yoruichi. "What about them reaching bankai Kisuke?"

"In their current state it would be unadvisable and as of now they have the power to fight several of the captains and only those who are the oldest pose the most danger to them and I doubt they would risk bankai in Soul Society. I would advise leaving it to when their in Soul Society."

"Then we should focus on the others." Isshin said turning to Yoruichi. "What's going on in Soul Society?"

"The old man has a new Fuku-Taicho." Everyone's attention focused fully on her. "From what I gather she is his granddaughter and I managed to get a glimpse of her and she resembles Doloran."

Isshin and Kisuke shared a look and they both sighed. "That may be a problem." Voiced Isshin.

"Is it even possible?" Yoruichi asked her voice cracking.

Kisuke removed his hat. "They never did find her and Doloran never was sure about what happened."

Tessai looked bewildered. "What?"

Isshin answered him. "Doloran had a sister who was never found after the attack that took his Okaa-san, he never believed her dead, but no evidence proved him right."

Yoruichi continued were he left off. "She and his Okaa-san were his world. After the aftermath of the attack he never spoke of her again and I doubt he as even told Ichigo. If she is still alive there is no telling what it will do to him."

"I doubt he has either and I have noticed a pain in him that even Ichigo can't take away or lessen when he looks at the twins. He thinks no one has noticed, but I have and I think she has as well to some extent."

Tessai saddened about what he had heard turned to Isshin. "Do you think he knows?"

"I doubt he does, if the old man had a hand in her disappearance then Doloran's Okaa-san played a part in it and she would have made sure she was well hidden, even from Doloran if she thought it necessary."

Kisuke continued. "She was well aware Central Forty-Six had been planning something and would have known well how he would react if the worst were to happen."

"I think she was even aware of what was going on with his father as well. She always seemed aware of more than the rest of us. She may have believed it best for her to be hidden, she saw things that we never could understand and that may have caused her to do many things we may not even now be aware of." Yoruichi said.

"What do you mean saw things?" Asked Tessai.

Isshin readjusted himself. "She once told me that she could see bits of the future, what was to come, but she also said it was not as we would perceive as seeing the future. She said that she saw paths that we could take and what decisions would lead to those paths. She said nothing she saw was definite and all that she saw could change."

"So she knew that she would die and if so why allow it to happen?"

Kisuke rubbed his eyes and took a sip of tea. "She may very well have and if she did she said nothing to any of us about it. If she believed that it would benefit us to not know, then she would have kept it from all of us. She was not the kind to allow anyone to come to unnecessary harm."

"As to why she allowed it to happen if she knew, only she can answer that and I doubt we will ever find out." Isshin sighed. "The best we can do is precede as we've planned and hope that the kids can do what needs to be done." They all nodded in agreement.

Doloran slowly awoke and opened his eyes and found himself in his and Ichigo's room at the Shoten. He fully remembered his conversation with his inner spirits and the spar in which he and Ichigo had, he guessed had been several days before. His vision was a little hazy and he had a brutal headache. Without even looking he knew Ichigo sat beside him and that she was conscious and starring down at her feet.

Slowly as not to startle Ichigo he lightly grasped her hand. The light touch drew her attention to him. He smiled at her and she returned the smile. "How do you feel?" He asked.

"I should be asking you that, not you asking me." She frowned "I am ok, Doloran what happened."

"We over did it." He said rising himself up to set next to her, without a word she wrapped her arms around him and he her. "It's more my fault than anything, I have kept from saying how I feel about you because I was afraid and still am that it would put you in more danger."

"I haven't said anything either, you're not the only one holding back. I have been waiting for you to ask me out, but I could have asked you instead, it's not like I'm a girl who sticks the all those stupid traditions."

"I suppose your right."

"What does are feeling have to do with us over doing it, does the connection I feel between us have anything to do with it?"

He wasn't surprised in the least that she had pieced it together even without knowing fully what had been transpiring between them. He smiled realizing just of mush she probably figured out without what it meant or why. "I'm not surprised that you have noticed it, we are indeed connected. It's the reason we over did it and passed out, but it's far from as simple as it sounds."

"At least I know I'm not crazy. I want to be around you all the time and when I'm not it's like I'm not whole."

"I have felt the same way."

She gazed into his eyes for several minutes. "Why are we connected and what is the connection?"

He took a deep breath and began hoping she would understand and in the end except it better than he had. The talk with his Zanpakuto had made him realize that he had been lingering in the past and denying the happiness she been giving him. It had also made him realize that the connection between them changed nothing between them unless they made things change. "The reason we are connected as far as I can figure is our pasts are so similar that our very essences reached out to one another because we are so alike and with us having grown close without it, only reinforced it. The connection itself is a bond of the souls, are soul are intertwined, as our futures now are."

A single tear ran down her check and he knew she grasped the situation. She pulled herself into his chest and held him tightly "I'm glad that it isn't something that means us harm, I can live with our destinies being intertwined."

He felt a tear race down his own cheek. "You know this means we most likely won't ever be with anyone else?"

He felt her grip him tighter. "The whole our souls are intertwined kind of spelled that out, Doloran." She said placing her hands on either side of his face. "Knowing that explains so many of the things I have been feeling when around you and when I am not. You have made me whole once again and that is something no one else had managed to do. Doloran you have been a light in my life since you became a part of it. The twins love you and so does Otou-san, how could I ever have someone else in my life. The only concern I have is what this bond will do to us and how much it had been responsible for already."

"I have been fooling myself thinking that it would be a mistake to get any closer to you than I already have because of what we must do in Soul Society and because of him." He said looking deeply in to his eyes. "But I have done is place us in this position of having to wonder when something like this might happen again and most likely without and I can't help but feeling it is my entire fault."

"We can't control everything that happens to us, you should know that by now and I have a feeling that this would not have happened if it wasn't meant to be. We can't control it, so we just need to be ourselves and be honest with each other and hope for the best." He smiled at her words and he had to wonder what he had done to be allowed to know her.

"If we are to be honest than I should tell you how I feel." He said moving within inches of her. "And how do you plan to do that when you haven't been able to so far." She asked in a teasing tone.

He smiled again. "Like this." He said placing his lips over hers while placing his hand on her back forcing her as close to him as he could get. They both felt a wave of pleaser push through them as he kissed her. Her back arched into his hand as he kissed her, her body pressed so close to him sent sensations through his body that he had never felt before. She was also felling sensation she had never felt before coursing through her body.

As he moved to deepen the kiss something happened to cause both to gasp. For several brief moments both felt as if they could feel what the other was feeling. The combined sensations seemed to cause them both to melt in to each other. They fell lightly to the floor with her on top of him. They both had felt the others emotions over the last couple of weeks, but doing so while kissing had not occurred before and left them both overwhelmed.

A sense of peace overcame both of them unlike any they had felt before. Neither felt the need to speak understanding instantly how they other felt. Their insecurities about each other seemed to disappear and they felt as if how they felt about each other was clearer.

Not wanting the sensation to end, Ichigo reached his lips and began kissing him deeper than he had before. The sensations grew and she felt as if her body was on fire, a fire that smoldered rather that burned. He felt similar to her and pressed his body closer to her, his hands roaming her body and her hands doing the same.

It felt like hours that they kissed until neither of them could put of breathing. They separated gasping for air. When their breathing became controllable once more they lay next to each other without speaking. "I love you." She said breaking the silence.

"I love you to." He said meaning it whole heartedly.

"What do we tell everyone, I don't even know what to call us? I feel like it's wrong to call us a couple, but at the same time it feels wrong to say we're not. We have been so far beyond friends for so long."

"We tell them we are together if they ask and nothing more. This isn't something we can easily define and I don't think we should. What we are is for us to find out and as far as I am concerned it is none of their business."

"What about Otou-san and the twins?"

He sighed. "Knowing him as I do, he probably already knows about us and that goes for Kisuke, Yoruichi and Tessai, as for the twins, we tell them the truth if Otou-san wants us to, but only after we get back."

Silence hung over them for a time, each in their own thoughts until Ichigo spoke again. "When were you going to tell me about them and what you are? She asked tracing the dragons and looking over the symbols on his body again.

He was confused momentary until he realized what she had been talking about. "I thought you had seen them in my memories and you just hadn't wanted to talk about it. If I had thought otherwise I would have told you. Do they change how you think about me?"

Catching his gaze she gave him a stern look. "You should know me better than that, I'll admit I was a little mift you hadn't told me yet, but that passed quickly. I just figured that I had heard everything."

His eyes softened. "I'm sorry I didn't. There are a few things I haven't told you, there still too painful."

"When you ready I am here." Her head once again rested on his chest and she quickly fell asleep.

He lightly brushed her hair and kissed her forehead. Thoughts of what would happen next raced through his head as he drifted off to sleep.

Deep within the Kuchiki compound two elders listened to Byakuya as he told his tale of the events several days earlier. Byakuya unsure how to deal with the situation as he could not help but feel the unknown reaper meant no harm to soul society as a whole, but his sense of duty gave him pause when considering whether to tell Central Forty-Six. The he wasn't stupid enough to believe that after the way he talked that the reaper wasn't from soul society and most likely from a noble family by the way he spoke as well, but it didn't take him long to realize that there was something more about him.

He was no fool, the power he felt in the reaper far exceeded any rouge. The reapers power was kept so tightly under control that what little he extruded had been so tightly compact that if he had let that power loose he was sure that his Fuku-Taicho would most certainly have been crushed or the very least knocked unconscious and of course he knew his Fuku-Taicho had been oblivious to the reaper true power.

The way the girl reacted to his arrival had brought more questions and he had been sure that the girl was hiding a great deal of her power and that she had been using very little against his Fuku-Taicho. The girl had danced around him as easily as a seated officer would a new recruit and she seemed to at home with her power, not everything with the girl appeared to be simple much as the reaper. The only blow that would have done damage to her had been blocked by her companion and he couldn't be sure if it had been really necessary or if it had just been the reaction of her companion seeing that she had yet to react.

The girl appeared like her companion to be much more than he either appeared and he decided that he could not rest without fining some sort of answer, which was what had led him to two of the oldest Kuchiki elders in the clan and possibly the oldest living souls next the four oldest captains and if they could not answer at least some of his question than he would be able to gauge how much action needed to be taken if anything should be done.

"You say his power disturbs you, how so?"

"His presence feels entirely to much like the Soutaichou for my comfort, yet he holds such a tight hold his power that I could neither feel his spiritual pressure nor sense his reiatsu level and whither he is aware of it or not, his presence makes me feel like I am standing over a volcano in the dead of winter while have no light from the sky."

The elders glanced quickly at on another before speaking. "We know of the one you speak, he shall not be impeded by this clan and that includes any who appear to side with him."

"Who is he?"

"That is not something we can tell you child, search the records and when you find an answer come back to us and then we shawl speak upon the matter more."

"Can he be trusted?"

"For those who mean the soul society harm, than they would do well to avoid him at all casts, however those who seek to see wrongs put right have nothing to fear." The elder pinned him with a look and remembered why the two elders were among the few who he did not threaten on a regular basis to remove them from the clan. "Speak to no one of what you have heard or have seen, if the Soutaichou wish's for your help than you are to give it to him."

A senkaimon opened in an unknown place in soul society to all put a very select few. The Fuku-Taicho stepped out as several guards appeared. "Halt, what business do you have hear."

"My brother has returned and I will see those under his command."

"And who do you think you are little girl to tell us what to do." The guard made a move to grab her when a burst of shunpo and a hand stopped him. The guard looked up in surprise and shrunk when he saw who it was. "If would not want to be you when the Soutaichou hears you have been harassing his sister. Leave us." The voice belonged to the one person here who she had hoped to see.

"Kiri it good to see you, we have much to talk about and not a whole lot of time to do so."

DSF – "A had planned to have the others training in here but after much consideration a chose not as I their training would reveal things I am not ready to. So without further ado here is a short bio of Doloran's Zanpakuto."

**Zanpakuto 1** – Shi Fenikkusu Kurogetsu Ryuujin

Shi Fenikkusu Kurogetsu Ryuujin is dual wielded twin Zanpakuto. Shi Fenikkusu spirit takes the appearance of an older man in his fifty's. His hair is crimson sweeps down his back. He wears a royal Kimono of black with red and orange flame designs. He has a calm Demeanor and a sharp mind. His fighting style is very aggressive and precise, the techniques of the style he uses is very traditional. His sword form when sealed is a large Katana with deep red wrappings which extended to a long ribbon in the same color which flowed from the end of the hilt, The tsuba were rectangular and in black with a phoenix in black and red feathers with fire surrounding it. He is worn on Doloran's back on his right side.

Kurogetsu Ryuujin spirit takes the form of a huge black and red dragon, with Black whiskers, the various spikes and horns on his body are black as well. His personality is much the same as Shi Fenikkusu, however he can have a short temper if he feels he is not getting his point across to Doloran. He rarely takes human form, but when he does he looks much the same as Shi Fenikkusu and his fighting style is the same. His sealed state is the same as Shi Fenikkusu exclude the tsuba which shows a grand black dragon with red eye and spikes and worn on Doloran's back on his left side.

Unlike Souketsu Kyuuten and Sougetsu Ryuujin they don't share both forms, rather only their human form.

Zanpakuto Type

Shi Fenikkusu Kurogetsu Ryuujin is a Moon – Dragon type Zanpakuto that has control of the elements of fire and Darkness and they are the strongest of their kind

Shikai

Release command – Reduce all things in the universe to ash.

When used alone their appearance doesn't change much when released except the blades become crimson with black spider like design within the blades.

When released with Souketsu and Sougetsu together at full power.

Shi Fenikkusu lengthens considerably, the blade becomes black with a red spider like design running from the tsuba to the tip of the blade. The handle becomes pure red and the raping extends past the hilt becoming a long flowing ribbon. Kurogetsu Ryuujin transforms into a black and orange gauntlet with a red stinger like blade on cloud middle finger. Armor also appears on his shoulders, forearms, neck and wrist extending to the lower arms to some extent and is red and black in color.

Abilities

Getsuga Tenshou – Spirit energy is absorbed into the tip of the blade, when released it sends a highly condensed wave of spirit energy at high speeds toward the enemy which takes the form of a crescent moon. When released by Shi Fenikkusu Kurogetsu Ryuujin the Getsuga Tenshou is a mixture of black and orange spirit energy with tinges of red. The more spirit energy put into the attack the faster and stronger it is. The size and speed can be controlled to some extant regardless of the amount of power put into the Getsuga Tenshou.

Jigoku Kasai (Hell Fire) - Fire engulfs Shi Fenikkusu and clouds right arm. When launched it acts much the same way as the Getsuga Tenshou, except being made out of fire. It has the potential to leave third degree burns on the enemy.

Jigoku Kurayami (Hell Darkness) – The element of darkness engulfs Shi Fenikkusu and Doloran's right arm. When launched it acts much the same way as the Getsuga Tenshou, except being made out of the element of darkness. The attack tends to leave a veal of darkness around the field of battle which can be used to conceal Cloud somewhat. The veal can be blown away by spiritual pressure however.

**Zanpakuto 2 – Souketsu Kyuuten Sougetsu Ryuujin**

Souketsu Kyuuten Sougetsu Ryuujin is dual wielded twin Zanpakuto. Sougetsu Kyuuten takes the form of a woman in here early thirties, her features strikingly beautiful. She wears an elegant kimono with snow designs and a long white scarf flowing from around her neck, she has deep blue eyes and long ocean blue hair. She is kind and always supportive and only gives information that leads to her wielder to the answer to his question rather than answering it most of the time. She is also somewhat of a motherly figure for her wielder. Her fighting style is very formal and fast paced. She has the ability to change into a dragon that looks the same as Sougetsu Ryuujin, but rarely does so. She is worn on Cloud's right hip.

Sougetsu Ryuujin takes the form of a dragon deep blue in color with black wickers and spikes with blue eyes blue eyes. She is lazy and is found sleeping most of the time and doesn't speak unless she feels she needs to say something. Like her twin she can change her form, when she does she is identical to Souketsu. Her fighting style is very aggressive and doesn't resemble any formal style. She is worn on Cloud's left hip.

Their blades when sealed are identical. They are slightly longer than normal katana. The silver blades gleam in the moonlight, the tsuba are rectangular in shape and bore snow like designs on either side and the designs are blue in color. The rapping's on the handle are deep blue in color and two black tassels extending from the hilt of the blades. Their sheaths are black in color and the bindings on the sheaths are deep blue as well.

Zanpakuto Type

Souketsu Kyuuten Sougetsu Ryuujin is Moon – Dragon type Zanpakuto that has control of the elements of ice and water and have the ability to create snow usually as a side effect of their attacks. They are the strongest of their kind

Shikai

Release command – Reign over the frozen heavens, grant asylum to the innocent in the frozen wastelands.

Their blades lengthen to about Cloud's height and their blades turned to a very deep blue and the blades themselves are see threw as if they are crystal. The tsuba changes to a snowflake design and it is white in color. The rapping's around the handle are black and are cloth. The tassels are replaced by a single blue string of cloth dangling from the hilt.

Abilities

Getsuga Tenshou – Spirit energy is absorbed into the tip of the blade, when released it sends a highly condensed wave of spirit energy at high speeds toward the enemy which takes the form of a crescent moon. When released by Ryuujin Hi No Kurogetsu Jakka the Getsuga Tenshou is a mixture of black and orange spirit energy with tinges of red. The more spirit energy put into the attack the faster and stronger it is. The size and speed can be controlled to some extant regardless of the amount of power put into the Getsuga Tenshou.

Shimiru (to be frozen over) – The attack sends an energy blast made of ice at the enemy freezing them. The attack is blue in color and the power and size of the attack can be changed. The attack can also induce hypothermia in its target, but can be overcome if the target can concentrate their reiatsu finely enough to expel the cold or warm there body enough through some other way. The attack can be used to shatter the opponent once frozen if they are weak enough or can't counteract it.

Jigoku kokkan (Hells depth of winter) – Can only be used to by using both Zanpakuto, the attack fires off a stream of ice to freeze the opponent then uses fire to finish off the opponent. Usually causes hypothermia and third and fourth degree burns. It's not an attack to use unless facing a very powerful opponent or as a last resort.

DSF – "As more his powers grow I'll list them here or any other attacks I add to other characters, this will mean Ichigo will learn more from Zangetsu in this fic than just Getsuga Tenshou. Peace."


End file.
